


Tallying Scars

by Aelwyn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, No Rexsoka, Not A Fix-It, Star Wars Legends: Clone Commando Series References, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series References, This is Rex's Story, like a brother and sister, not in the slightest, purely platonic relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2020-10-28 02:18:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 62
Words: 104,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20770904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelwyn/pseuds/Aelwyn
Summary: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARSTALLYING SCARSIn a galaxy divided by war, it falls to the Grand Army of the Republic to restore the peace. The CLONE ARMY, led by Jedi commanders, continues to fight admirably in the face of overwhelming odds.Unfortunately, due to the taxing and stressful demands of battle many troopers are falling prey to an unrest which has spread through the ranks like a cancer. No one is immune. As more and more of the clones are killed in the war, the more fragile the predicament grows.Even the command of Anakin Skywalker, the 501st, has seen its fair share of losses. Unquestioning loyalty is put to the ultimate test in a new campaign against trust, and it falls to CAPTAIN REX to maintain order in a galaxy in the throes of chaos...





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS GO TO CARTOON NETWORK, STAR WARS, LUCASFILMS, DISNEY, THE CLONE WARS SERIES, AND THE REBELS SERIES.
> 
> Hello everyone. I'm back again with another fanfiction for you all, and this time it's a Star Wars: The Clone Wars one! If you didn't read the description I'll give a brief explanation. If not, you can stop here and continue on to the story. Happy reading!
> 
> Set during the duration of the Clone Wars, through all six seasons and ultimately culminating in Order 66. This story specifically follows Clone Captain Rex and the exploits of the 501st's Torrent Company. 
> 
> This fanfiction is set to give a more realistic view of the Clone Wars, and is not a cartoonish feel about it. There will be a grittiness to it set for a more mature audience (as the youngest fans of the show when it was airing will now be in their teens). It is not rated mature but it will give an accurate (at least that is the intent) portrayal of what war is like and how it is to be a soldier. 
> 
> Following Rex, there will be humor from Skywalker and Kenobi's shenanigans to lighten the mood. 
> 
> Enjoy, everybody. 

Smoke billowed thickly through the air, emanating from the burning capital. The Captain stumbled through an impassable cloud, blinded. He could see the vague outlines of shapes moving within the ashen vapors, illumined periodically by the burst of blue blasterfire. An occasional beam of color would slice through the night air from time to time, but it was less than before the assault. 

The clones advanced through the peaceful , the Mandalorians cut down before them. It was a relentless wave, a force of nature steadfast and conditioned to kill. They were forced to step over the fallen forms of their injured and dead without regard for them, the panicked cries eventually fading out as death drew more into the folds of its finite cloak.

Mandalore was in a state of confusion and rioting as all this transpired, betrayed by their protector of blood and his followers and terrified of the soldiers who were publicly executing them on the streets as the fighting spilled out of the throne room and into the other districts. What the citizens _didn't _know was the death toll, of both defenseless children or elders and the warriors in their prime prior to the siege. Both were shown no mercy by Maul or his followers.

A series of death screams shredded the eery silence which had settled like a solemn mantle over the ancient buildings; the fight was not yet over. Rex ignored the sound and continued on, determined. He was looking for Ahsoka.


	2. The Blood Desert

A silence had settled like a menacing blanket over the hangar of the Republic starship _Occulus _as it came in from an orbital approach above the planet of Geonosis, and the men shifted restlessly as they waited. All of the faces were identical yet unique to each individual, but every single one shared the youthful innocent quality of the individual who has not yet experienced true combat. White armor gleamed spotless in the dim red light, which glinted off of black t-slit visors in the troopers' faceplates of their helmets. 

_"This is it, troopers! When we touch down it'll take everything you've got to win this battle. Remember: this is what you were bred for." _

Rex inhaled deeply and held it, eyes closed. His face was hidden from everyone else behind his helmet, and with his external comm silenced it was impossible for anyone to tell what he was thinking at that moment. He was a regular trooper with a pending appointment to a command position, but despite the extra training required for that he was racked with nerves. With every battle he'd studied and tactic followed, the only significant lesson he'd ever learned was that nothing went according to plan. 

A shudder traveled through the entire ship as the _Occulus _settled onto the ground, and then the ramp was lowering and Rex was moving with the throng of troops as they raced out onto the blinding desert that was Geonosis. Their ship had followed a procession, so as they disembarked they entered straight into the battle which was already underway. Rex felt the blood surge through his body with the cold spike of adrenaline, the pulse of his own heartbeat drowning out the battle in his ears. Mechanically he switched on his comm, and flinched at the cacophony of sound that was war when it came alive around him. Officers were shouting, soldiers were cursing, questioning, screaming and then falling silent. Orders were routinely barked above everything else, and Rex clung to them as if they were a lifeline. 

The sand was thick; churned by the explosive rounds it had become displaced from its packed state and the clotted chunks rolled underfoot. Rex tripped going down a steep embankment, his ankle stinging with pain. He struck the side of the hill hard and rolled the rest of the way to the bottom, the loose sand sticking in the joints of his armor and clogging the air filters of his helmet. He came up onto his knees on the side of a crater, grasping at the seal with trembling fingers until he had undone the clasp. Throwing off the helmet he gasped for air, coughing at the unexpected dryness which crackled in his lungs and seemed to pull the moisture out of his throat. 

A nearby blast of cannon fire struck, and the force of the explosion threw him onto his back. Sizzling shards of red-hot metal whizzed by, cutting at his face. Dirt rained down over him. The world spun, colors unnaturally bright. He pawed at his right ear and his gauntleted fingers came away wet; it was disconcerting to know that sound filtered sparingly to him through it. Rex went to put his helmet back on and found a huge hole blown through the top, rendering it useless. He cast it away with a sigh and fiddled with his blaster until he'd got as much sand out of the mechanics as possible, disliking the sticky caked blood as it dried against his skin more and more by the minute. He stumbled back up the embankment and stood at the top for a few moments trying to regain his bearings, the fighting which was going on around him blurred by the injury he had sustained to his head. Noises came intermittently, sometimes deafening and other times at more of a paranoid whisper. 

Rough hands suddenly grasped him under his shoulder plates, pulling him behind a partially-demolished stalagmite as a hail of blasterfire strafed the ground where he had just been standing.

"Soldier! Are you injured?" The blurry image of a dirty t-slit and a field medic's insignia settled into focus. The man snapped his fingers directly next to his good ear, and he jerked away from it with a start. 

"Are you badly injured?" The trooper repeated.

"I don't think so," Rex replied shakily. The familiar helmet cocked to one side, and since it was a form of expression Rex himself used quite often he knew that the man was trying to assess his condition.

"What's your CT number?" He asked.

"CT-7567, awaiting appointment to an officer's position sir," Rex responded more firmly.

"Mm. Name's Kix. I belong to the twelfth company in the 501st Attack Battalion."

"Rex. Seventh." 

"Yeah, yeah, nice to see we've made friends Kix, but we need to shift it!" A new voice said as another trooper darted over a rise and skidded to a stop next to them. Rex coughed as he threw up red dust with the movement.

"That's Jesse," Kix muttered. "No matter what I do I can't get rid of him." 

"That's _Sergeant _Jesse to you," Jesse corrected. He cast a sideways glance at Rex, as indicated by the tilt of his helmet. "Who's the kid?" 

"Take cover!" Rex suddenly shouted, grasping both of them by their shoulder plates and then letting himself fall bodily into the thick sand. The stalagmite they had been crouching behind suddenly erupted in an explosion of rock slivers that embedded themselves into their armor but couldn't penetrate, making them look as if they were covered in bristling quills. Kix heaved himself onto his elbows and slowly got back to his feet. 

"Nice save."

"I guess you're not just a pretty face after all then," Jesse quipped half apologetically, half snidely as he undid the seal on his helmet and popped it off. Rex's own visage was suddenly smirking back at him. 

"Yeah, very funny. Let's get out of here." Rex looked from Kix to Jesse, amused. 

"I'm guessing you two are from the same company?" He asked as they trudged across the desert toward the thicker fighting. 

"Unfortunately," Kix replied. Jesse rolled his eyes as he slapped his helmet back on. 

"You're not exactly a joy to be with either," he snapped. 

_"All available units, divert to sector 257. Repeat: divert to sector 257."_

"You get that?" Jesse asked. Rex nodded, pointing to the wrist-comm. 

"Loud and clear." As they changed course and started heading for the new destination Rex began to lag behind, letting the other two go on ahead. His vision was still blurry and the beginnings of a killer headache were forming, and combined with the pain in his twisted ankle he realized he was in bad shape. It was better to bring up the rear and keep an eye out for an attack that way. Kix noticed this and asked after him, but Rex put it down to a minor inconvenience. Truthfully, he felt more _like_ one than he himself having to _deal_ with one. 

Sector 257 was, to all intents and purposes, a kill-zone. The downdraft from ship engines mingled with the aftermath of explosive rounds to send great clouds of red dust up into the air, effectively blinding both ally and enemy. The droid line had somehow got around and flanked the clones, so it was a battle just to join their own forces. Rex took a deep breath and then followed Kix and Jesse into the fray, eyes streaming as his tear ducts tried to clear out the sand. The tiny particles were brought right along with the air he inhaled, and he felt as if he were choking on a mouthful of red dirt. Somewhere in all the mayhem he became separated from both Jesse and Kix, so he stumbled forward looking for any indication of his fellow troopers. 

"Watch it!" Someone shouted as he ran right into another clone. The man paused when he got a good look at him. "Can you see _anything _without your helmet?"

"What?" Rex asked, mentally cursing his bad right ear. 

"I said- oh, never mind. Stick close to me, kid. We'll make it out of here yet."

"Sir, yessir!" Rex didn't even know if they outranked him or not, but from the moment the man grabbed him by the arm and guided him through the dust storm he felt suitably subservient. 

"Name's Casey, by the way!" He shouted over the roar of battle. 

"I'm-" Rex never got the opportunity, because in the next moment they were suddenly sprawled on the ground. Rex coughed, finding it hard to breathe with the other trooper's weight pinned across his chest. He shoved him gently, trying to jog his senses. When Casey didn't respond he pushed harder, and the clone rolled limply onto the ground beside him. 

"Casey? Casey! Come on, not now. The battle's still going. We need you out there." Rex stared down at Casey's body, a sickening feeling settling in the pit of his stomach when his wide, scared brown eyes managed to focus on the gaping hole in the middle of the soldier's chest. 

"Casey. No." Rex stood, shaking as he backed away and felt something wet on his chest-plate. "Mm." The world spun, and something inside him snapped. He took a couple of deep breaths to steady his heartbeat and collect his wits, waiting for the blurred vision to subside. If he shifted weight onto his right leg the pain in the left ankle wasn't as bad, and as for the dust obscuring his senses... 

Rex bent down and reverently slipped Casey's helmet off of him, wincing at the open eyes filled with shock. He closed them with his fingers before slipping the borrowed helmet on and securing the seal. Casey had no use for it now, anyway. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"-oncussion, numerous cuts and bruises, right shattered eardrum, minorly-sprained left ank..." The medic was reading off his sustained injuries as he sat on a shipping crate back aboard the _Occulus_, but Rex was barely paying attention. He was watching the troopers coming in from the battle; their armor chipped, scorched, bloodied and covered in red dust just as his was. Some were even missing plates. 

"Trooper?" 

"Hmm?" Rex came back to the present, finding it difficult to focus on the medic. "Yes?"

"I said that we were going to administer bacta, a few braces, and a quick repair surgery on your eardrum."

"That's fine," Rex murmured. It had to be done, so what did his opinion matter? He held Casey's helmet in his hands, staring into the reflective black t-slit and finding only his own face looking back. 

"What's the difference between you and me?" He asked to the helmet's previous owner. He glanced back at all of his brothers as they found places to collapse around the hangar, some looking lost as they discovered that they were the only ones left of their unit. Kix and Jesse had spotted him earlier, had given a nod, and then joined with the remainder of their company. There weren't many left from Rex's.

Rex gazed at the other clones, noticing for the first time how other people must see them. The startled expressions of the Jedi they had rescued had been a revelation. He spoke again to the departed Casey in an even softer tone.

"What's the difference between us and them?" 


	3. Growing Pains I

His boots seemed to echo unusually loudly down the corridor of the ship, and the rhythm irked him because it was thrown. Rex still wasn't used to the uneven weight of the pauldron over his left shoulder, and the kama about his waist made for the uneven step. He'd found that the only way to keep perfect balance was to arch the spine slightly, cast the shoulders back, and tilt the chin down just a little. These precise movements were foreign to him as he made his way to the bridge of the cruiser, helmet with its new rangefinder under his right arm. 

Troopers passed him on their way to the barracks or the mess; almost all had gone ahead and painted their armor with the company's color already. 

After the heavy casualties on Geonosis, what remained of Rex's company had been spliced together with other fractured units to form a complete group. It was officially called Company R-6 of the 501st Attack Battalion, the R standing for "Remnant." However, it took more than an assignment to make a good crew and Rex was apprehensive about their first mission as a result. 

He noted a golden-orange color scheme on some of the armor sets moving about the Republic cruiser _Reliant, _trying to remember what battalion that assigned them to. It wasn't hard for him; most of the 501st were stationed on Coruscant and left only companies to fight in covert operations. There weren't that many of his men to watch after. 

Golden-orange, golden-orange... the door of the turbolift hissed open and it clicked when his eyes found the tactical display. Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, newly-designated leader of the 212th Attack Battalion, looked up from the holographic landscape. Rex immediately came to attention, saluting even before he registered the need to carry out the action. 

"Sir. Captain Rex of Company R-6, reporting for duty." 

"At ease Captain," Kenobi said with a nod. He motioned to the two men standing on either side of him. "This is Admiral Yularen. I have a feeling both our units will be seeing a lot of him. And this is Commander Cody." 

"We'll be coordinating the fine details of our attacks, and it'll be down to us to organize the men accordingly when our generals do joint operations," Cody said coolly. Rex resisted the urge to retort that he was _new _to a command position, not _ignorant. _The two clones eyed each other warily, both recognizing that either they would get along splendidly together or become like oil and water. They'd seen each other in passing during officer training, but hadn't made a formal acquaintance.

"I would let General Skywalker introduce _ himself, _but he seems to be running late again... as usual," Obi-wan remarked drily when he noticed Rex casting a discreet but semi-confused look around the bridge. "So I'll do the honors for him. Jedi Anakin Skywalker was formerly my Padawan up until a week ago, and is currently undergoing his trials to become a fully-fledged Knight. You'll be working under his command for the foreseeable future, and he-"

"Sorry, sorry!" They all turned to see a man barely older in appearance than the clones he was to be leading, if not younger. He still had his hair done in the Padawan style, and his robes were in a state of disarray. He came skidding to a halt in front of the tactical display and braced his left hand awkwardly on the circular edge; Rex noted that the shiny new cybernetic right one hung in such a way that it was partially obscured by the general's clothing. 

"I assume you passed?" Kenobi asked exasperatedly. Skywalker nodded, the formality of the situation not preventing him from cracking a wide smile. 

"That's why I was late." He seemed to notice Rex standing uncertainly near him, recognizing the navy blue paint color on his armor. "Anakin Skywalker. I'll be heading up Company R-6 as its Jedi General."

"CT-7567. Captain Rex, sir." Rex saluted like he was supposed to, but he was caught off guard when the man grasped his left shoulder with a rough but affectionate gesture of acceptance. 

"Great. I'm sure we'll get along fine." Skywalker pulled up an enlarged section of the holographic terrain and was suddenly very serious. "Our objective is- _was- _to retake the capital of Tibrin, since the planet is a key position in the Middle Rim."

"We'll be aiding Master Luminara Unduli and the 41st Elite," Kenobi broke in seamlessly. "They'd already started the campaign when far less resistance was anticipated. Unfortunately, the local populace is more keen on Separatist allegiance than had previously been assumed."

"We've already lost the battle," Anakin explained. "We're going down there to provide enough reinforcements for them to pull out. Their forces have been decimated." 

"The 41st is led by Commander Gree," Cody commented. "I went through command training with him. It'll take some convincing to get his men to retreat since General Unduli has gone missing." 

"That's where you two come in," Obi-Wan explained. "You'll both be heading up a small team to enter the Separatist complex and find Master Unduli while the rest of our forces handle the retreat. In her last transmission, she made it known that she planned to get her hands on some classified information that could be vital to the war effort. We need it if we're to have an edge."

"You can count on us General," Cody said definitively. Rex nodded to show he had heard, but his primary attention was on the building they would be infiltrating. Specifically, the one covered in bristling red dots to show the number of enemy troops. 

"The front door's too well-fortified for a direct assault," he commented. "What if we were to rappel up the cliff side and make our approach through the landing platform?"

"It _would _give us the advantage of surprise," Cody agreed. 

"We'll leave the two of you to hash out the details." Kenobi made a polite exit with Yularen, and Skywalker followed behind as if he had decided to in afterthought. 

"Where'd you get those?" Cody asked after a brief moment of awkward silence. Rex stared at him, confused. "Those scars. They look fresh."

"Oh. Geonosis." 

"... Oh." Cody seemed almost embarrassed. "I uh... I wasn't there." 

"It was a bloodbath," Rex murmured; he ran his fingers over his scalp, feeling the thin ridges where the scars- although rapidly fading with applications of bacta- were. They had had to shave his head to work on fixing his eardrum, and he had decided that he liked it better that way. 

"The one on your chin looks especially nasty," Cody commented.

"Shrapnel. I don't think that one's ever going away." He seemed to come out of a trance as he took his mind away from the horrors of Geonosis. "Anyway. We'll have to pick our teams. Four per each of us, do you think?" 

"Any more than that and we run the risk of exposing our position. I think I'll send in Jaden and Klicks. Throw in two volunteers. Jaden's one of my field medics, by the way." 

"Yeah, okay. I'll uh, I'll get some volunteers too." 

"Don't know anyone in your company?" Cody asked. 

"We were all thrown together," Rex admitted. "I've only trained with a handful of the men under my command. We're all strangers to each other." 

"That's in for trouble. There needs to be trust."

"I'll have to work on it. What time is the assault?" 

"In three hours."

"Well then, we'd better get our teams assembled."


	4. Growing Pains II

"I hate this planet." Brye was their self-proclaimed resident mechanic and wasn't exactly shy about voicing his opinion, which had made for an interesting trip so far as Jaden, Cody's field medic, was the surly type with a dry sarcastic wit. 

"Everything is wet, the humidity is in the nineties, and it's 98% water with island chains everywhere. And most of that is swamp. I'd rather have sent the divers and been done with it," Brye continued as they slugged through a particularly sloppy mud hole. 

"Yes, but I don't really see a difference between here and Kamino," Ailen pointed out. He was another of Rex's men, and unlike Brye- who he had trained in the same squad with and was a member of the same original battalion- he was entirely fresh from Kamino and as of yet had not seen any battle experience.

"Yeah, but it's also 110° and I can't stand the way it makes my armor-"

"We all know." Klicks, another of Cody's, cut in mercifully. "Trust me. We all know." The other two members of Rex's entourage, Zixx and Dart, were more subdued. They listened with tremendous self-restraint to the conversation, only slight huffs of exasperation betraying their mood over the comm. 

"Hey, Commander! Where's this cliff we're supposed to climb anyway?" A clone named Jabber called from the back of the group. Cody sighed. 

"Below the base we're supposed to storm," he replied reprovingly.

"Yeah, quit speaking just to hear your own voice Jab," the last member of the entourage taunted. 

"You're one to talk Jib," Jabber pointed out. "Just as chatty as I am." 

"Both of you shut up before I stitch your mouths shut," Jaden growled bad-temperedly. "Commander, why'd you have to bring _them _along?"

"They volunteered." 

"Objective sighted!" Ailen stated confidently. When the landing platform came into view even Rex and Cody sighed with relief, despite themselves. 

"All right you lot, shift it!" Cody ordered. They all started forward, and after five steps Rec walked right into a hidden hole. The water level went right up to his armpits when he sank, and the unpleasant coldness found its way around the seals and settled in between his bodysuit and armor plates. 

"Just perfect," he muttered as he waded toward firmer ground. Cody grabbed his arm and helped him out, and even though he was wearing his helmet Rex could tell that he had a split moment of panic when the embankment started to crumble. "Thanks." 

"Yeah, don't mention it." 

"I was always fond of spelunking," Jabber chattered as they readied their ascension cables.

"You need a cave for spelunking," Klicks pointed out. 

"I don't like the tight spaces though."

"Then you wouldn't like spelunking." 

"Going dark in three, two, one." Cody's voice sounded firm and authoritative as it ended the debate. All of the comms went internal, only to be used for orders and emergency communication. 

"We'll split into two teams and comb the detention level for General Unduli," Cody instructed as he lined up his sights, readying to shoot the cable. "Captain Rex will take the other group and search the data center. We'll be rendezvousing back on the platform." 

"Sir! Yessir!" The reply was the result of eight unified and nearly-identical voices speaking. Rex watched the exchange, feeling somewhat threatened by Cody's easy authority. The man was born for it, and Rex was the first to admit that he preferred being a follower more than a leader. 

"Right then," he said with as much confidence as he could muster. "Let's go." He fired his line and began clawing his way up the cliff face when he found that it was secure, realizing after a few moments that Cody had given him point. Not sure if it was a gesture of good faith or a silent comment on his novice skills at command, Rex decided to file it away as a question to be asked later and kept going. 

The platform was, surprisingly, deserted when they got to the top, and they paused just long enough to see a tremendous explosion light up the terrain around them. Blue and red blasterfire tore through the night, and wraith-like shapes fought in the swampy mist. The diversion had begun. Ailen picked the lock and they shot through the door, weapons drawn and muscles tensed. The two groups split up and went their separate ways; Rex's entourage followed him down an eerily-empty corridor to the data center. 

All of the terminals were on, emanating a sickly blue-green glow that painted dark shadows of their silhouettes on the wall behind them as they entered warily in. 

"Zixx, work on locating the General. Brye, see what you can do about disabling this equipment. _Permanently. _Ailen, stand watch. Dart, with me." There were subdued responses on the private channel. 

"Begging your pardon Captain, but what are we doing?" Dart whispered.

"Patrolling," Rex answered. "We don't want any nasty surprises waiting for us." 

"Mm." They rounded a corner and froze, caught between fight and flight. 

"Hands up, clones."

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"How did we get in this situation?" Cody questioned as they ran down the hallway with an entire battalion of droids on their heels. 

"The Captain thought it prudent to patrol, and we were discovered," Dart explained helpfully. Rex rolled his eyes. _Now _he talks...

"My team managed to permanently sabotage their equipment, _and _we found where they're keeping General Unduli," Rex snapped. "Take a left at the next junction." They turned. 

"Well this is a fine mess you've gotten us into," Cody remarked exasperatedly as he fired a shot over his shoulder. 

"Cody. Shut. _Up._" There was instant silence on the comm. Rex had had enough. He was stressed, tired, and hadn't wanted to be made an officer to begin with. Yes, Cody was his superior. No, he didn't care anymore. What were they going to do to him besides throw him back in the regular army? That's where he'd rather be anyway.

"What did you say?" Cody asked, making an effort to keep his voice level. 

"You heard. And quite frankly I don't feel the need to repeat myself. This has been the mission from Mustafar and I've had it. Now let's just get this over with and get back to the ship. I'm taking point. Now move it!" 

"Sir yes _sir,_" Brye said, unusually submissive. "Where are- ah. I see: interrogation." 

"Do me a favor and open the door."

"On it." 

General Luminara Unduli wasn't very happy when they found her, and she was even less so when the droids caught up with them. They were racing back toward the service platform when it exploded, and that was when they took temporary refuge in a turbolift shaft. 

Rex struggled to pull himself up the ascension cable, sweat beading on his brow and then rolling off the tip of his nose to collect in a puddle around the collar of his bodysuit. Brye was right; the humidity and heat were really an issue.

"I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but can't you go any faster?" Then again, Brye was also a pain...

"I _will _kick you." Brye's t-slit tilted up to stare at him in the darkness from where the trooper was clinging to his waist.

"Sorry to put you out like this Rexie, but what was I supposed to do? My own cable broke and these walls are ultra-smooth. Was I supposed to fall to my death?"

"Can you _please _not call me Rexie?"

"Well I know that you're a captain and all now, but you'll always be a little brother to me."

"Aside from the fact that you were our squad leader you're only point o-o-seven seconds older than me." 

"Yes, and I-" Luminara, who had been climbing a cable after Cody, suddenly launched herself into the air and kept proppeling herself off of the wall to quickly make her way upward. "-whoa."

"The turbolift is coming," she explained worriedly. 

"From above or below, general?" Cody asked. Luminara thought for a moment, trying to sense it. 

"Below."

"Perfect."

"Detaching cables in five," Rex added as he picked up the sound of the lift approaching. "Now."

"Copy that," Ailen exclaimed. They all went into free fall, and Brye let go of Rex's waist. A very loud thud resounded through the shaft as they landed on top of the transport, relieved as it rapidly ascended. Their Jedi counterpart dropped down to them, a bright beam of green light pulsating as she activated her lightsaber and cut a hole in the ceiling of the turbolift capsule. One by one they all went inside after her, and it was immensely crowded. Even with the air filters in his helmet, Rex wrinkled his nose at the all-too familiar smell of sweaty individuals at close quarters. 

"Would now be a good time to offer people breath mints?" Brye asked sarcastically.


	5. Growing Pains III

When they stepped out of the turbolift they were lucky to find themselves in an empty hallway, and the clones took the reprieve to put new magazines into their blasters. 

"How are we getting ourselves out of this one, Commander?" Jaden asked. Cody paused in reloading. 

"The only other viable way would be through the front door," he said resignedly. 

"It shouldn't be a problem," Master Unduli said. It was more of a statement than a show of over-confidence, and something told Rex that she could back up her claim. He hadn't seen much of Jedi up close, but from what he'd heard from other veterans of Geonosis they were as good as a hundred soldiers even when incapacitated. He just hoped that his brothers hadn't been exaggerating to make for a more interesting story.

"If we make contact with General Kenobi he can authorize a diversion to take some of the heat," Cody suggested. "I'll get on that." 

"In the meantime I can see what we have in the way of ammunitions," Klicks suggested.

"I'll get behind that," Ailen volunteered enthusiastically. "I love watching things explode." 

"I can tell I'm really going to like you," Brye said with a short laugh. "You remind me of- well, you're okay kid." 

"There are Tibrin natives approaching," Luminara said suddenly. "I can sense them." 

"That's just what we need," Jabber muttered. "A fight with a bunch of Ishi Tib who are better suited to this mud hole of an environment than we are."

"Don't forget their beaks," Jib added. "Their jaws have enough power behind them to rip our arms right out of our soc-" 

"Seriously, _shut up," _Jaden snapped. 

"General Kenobi has his hands tied with the retreat of our main forces," Cody explained as he ended the conversation he had been having within the private confines of his helmet. "We're on our own." 

A strange, almost guttural clacking sound could be heard from nearby and the Ishi Tib- a humanoid fish-like species with beak mouths- advanced out of the shadows. They rose like warriors of the deep, a dark and threatening reptilian strike force that still glinted wetly in the poor emergency lighting. 

"Here goes nothing," Jabber muttered as he sighted his target. Green and blue blasterfire erupted in the corridor, cutting clearly in long lines as it left the barrels and traveled through the mist-enshrouded air. Red suddenly sprang from nowhere, the aqua droids finally catching up. Rex crouched low as a terrible thought suddenly occurred to him, and Cody soon joined.

"What's wrong?" The Commander asked; he was taking his shots from the sheltered position when he could. 

"Why guppies? Why not regular tinnies or the SBDs?"

"It's a water world, Captain." He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the galaxy... which it was. "Of course they would send the aqua droids." 

"Exactly. With a native species that can survive as long as they please underwater." Rex pointed to a grate in the wall. "I've seen plenty of those all over this base, and they don't look like ventilation shafts."

"... And there was plenty of pumping equipment all over the place," Cody said, catching on. "But if reversed-"

"We'll be drowned like womprats," Rex finished. 

"And me without my swim suit!" Brye said snidely. Both officers turned, startled to see him crouching next to them.

"When did you get here!?" Rex asked sharply. 

"You know me. I'm stealthy." They glanced up at Luminara Unduli, her green lightsaber blade dancing as it deflected blaster bolts. 

"General!" Cody barked. She turned slightly. 

"Yes Commander?"

"We have to get out of here. There's a good chance that this entire base will start to flood in a few moments." As he spoke there was an ominous clang, then a rumble of rushing water. The grate which Rex had pointed out started spouting a geyser, and other such vents opened up all down the hallway. They were soon up to their ankles. 

"Everyone make for the roof!" Unduli instructed. "We're out of options here."

They waded over to the turbolift, the general bringing up the rear to deflect the heavy fire. In the struggle to get it open, one of the Ishi Tib got lucky. Cody slumped against the wall, clutching at his left eye in pain. The entire side of his helmet had a sparking, smoking hole in it and it lay useless on the floor. Underneath his fingers could be seen a deep network of gashes from a nettle bomb, which the indigenous were known for. Zixx, distracted by his brother, took a round directly through the head. He swayed for a moment, then dropped into the lake that was now rising over their knees. It turned dark around his body, and Rex looked away as Jaden grabbed Cody under his free arm and dragged him into the now-open turbolift.

"We can't leave him!" Dart exclaimed, resisting the pressing of his fellow troopers as they tried to get him into the lift. Rex grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and swung him around, pinning him to the wall. The doors slid shut.

"There's nothing you can do for him now," he said firmly. Dart's breathing came out like a rasp, quick and heavy. It was the only other noise in the capsule as it rose steadily toward the roof of the base. 

"I promised that I'd keep him safe," Dart said brokenly. 

"Never make a promise that you have no power in being able to keep," Rex responded softly. "It'll tear you up inside. Do you understand?" The trooper hesitated before nodding. Rex let go and straightened up, turning his attention to Cody.

"Jaden, how does it look?"

"Incredibly dark," the medic retorted sourly. "Who designed this place anyway? No adequate lighting. As for the Commander here, an application of bacta when we get back to the ship will be more than enough to fix him up. Not sure about scar tissue, though." 

"We have incoming," Unduli said quietly. The turbolift started to slow, and when the doors slipped open they came out guns blazing. Their Jedi escort vaulted far into the air and landed in the center of a group of the native species, rendering swift punishment while the clones took out the droids. Rex felt the heat of the activity seep through tired muscles, the adrenaline spike having worked its way through and now subsiding. He'd been conditioned for such exertion, but even so the rigorous exercise had taken its toll. 

The movements of his and Cody's men told of their own exhaustion, and he knew that they couldn't keep this up forever. The torture General Unduli had endured... She was weakening rapidly. But if they could just get to the edge...

"We might have a chance," Cody grunted to Rex's surprise; they had apparently been thinking along very similar thought patterns. 

"Everyone make for the side!" Rex ordered. They started retreating, walking backward while firing with Luminara in front of them. When Rex felt his foot bow down with the curve of the edge he stopped, did a half-turn to look where he was jumping to, and launched himself off of the Separatist base. The others followed, and they found themselves plunging into water which was nastily lukewarm. Blasterfire ripped the surface as it sought to hit any of the intended targets, but the team was too deep in the dark depths. The seals on their helmets wouldn't last long- they weren't supposed to hold up against water because of the oxygen molecules- and General Unduli didn't have a rebreather. 

Rex spotted a gap in the bank, indicating a river. He began swimming toward it, the weight of his armor dragging him down. As they swam they left the hail of blaster bolts behind, and at a suitable distance- when his heads-up-display in his helmet had flashing warning signs all over it- they resurfaced. To their right they could see the rest of their attack force making its way to the gunships, and wearily they ran to join them. They were under a heavy combination of red and green fire, and a sudden volley of blue erupted to give them cover. 

Rex leapt into a gunship like a pack of Rackghouls were after him, Brye and Dart practically landing on top of him as the doors slid shut. They disentangled themselves from one another and found a whole gunship-full of dark green armor, the visors of the 41st men tilted slightly in confusion at these newcomers who were from the 501st. The Laat/i ship departed from the ground with a sudden jolt of acceleration, and before the blast shields closed they could see other ships departing too. 

Their attention turned back to the men from the 41st. Brye took a cursory glance around and decided to break the ice.

"Last call for _Reliant _departures. Please remember to check your baggage at the terminal and enjoy your flight. Thank you for flying 'Air Larty.'" Scattered chuckles helped to alleviate the tension, but no further attempt at conversation was attempted. Everyone was simply too exhausted. 

Some of the men removed their helmets when they hit the edge of the atmosphere and pulled away; in the dim light Rex spotted the vacant and haunted expressions of troopers who had just witnessed a massacre. Surveying them, he suddenly realized that he was the only officer onboard. That made it his responsibility to ask after their welfare. 

Rex chose the least-isolated-looking trooper he could find and slowly maneuvered his way over through the other armored bodies. The larty was cramped. He removed his helmet and clipped it to his belt for the time being, then placed a hesitant hand on the trooper's shoulder. He jumped, startled. 

"You alright soldier?" Rex asked quietly. The other clone immediately shook his head yes, then slowly began shaking it no. He looked into Rex's eyes, his expression shell-shocked and lost. "What happened out there before we arrived?"

"It was- it- sir, I was trained for a hard fight but that was-" he looked away. "That was just a massacre." 

"We must've lost at _least _half our forces before backup arrived," another joined in. "What unit are you with, sir?"

"Company R-6." 

"Well, they came in like a force of nature." It was a new man. "Never seen fighting that gritty or determined. Came up behind us and just kept pushing the guppies back. They should call you guys Torrent Company." 

The men were all looking to him now for direction, to be told what to do. Even though there wasn't any order to be given, Rex decided to announce one anyway. There was a comfort in orders, a familiarity. And being an officer meant that he was the one giving them, not the one receiving. 

"You've fought hard against odds which were stacked on the other side since the beginning," he said quietly. "When we get back to the ship have the medics tend to any injuries, and then retire to your barracks. You're all in need of rest. Understood?"

"Yessir." It was a subdued and unified, whispering acknowledgement. Rex made the rounds checking up on each man individually, then went back to stand beside Brye. He continued watching the other troopers, and slowly ran his hand over the fading scars on his scalp. Echoes of Geonosis hunted through his subconscious.


	6. Facets

Rex and Anakin were standing side by side as they watched Jedi Master Depa Billapa and her Padawan learner, Caleb Dume, head toward the gunship which would take them back to their own cruiser. Master Billapa was scolding her teenage apprentice, who had been over-eager during the fight and had accidentally cost them a pair of AT-TE walkers. 

"I would _hate _to be in Caleb's shoes right now," Skywalker commented. 

"Personally, I've never understood why a Padawan Commander outranks a Clone Commander," Rex remarked. "The entire reason they're with their masters is because they need training and experience. Why put them in a position where they can override someone else's orders?" 

"Well you'll never have to worry about that," Anakin laughed. "I'm not getting one."

"Any particular reason why, sir?"

"They'd just slow me down." 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Rex felt a feeling of foreboding pass through him when he laid eyes on the small Togruta following General Skywalker through the ranks, noting the curiosity of his troops as she passed. Despite being small she walked with confident self-purpose, her shoulders thrown back proudly. The next thing he noticed was the amused expression on her face and the annoyed expression on the general's. He spotted his captain and headed straight for him.

"What's the status, Rex?" Anakin asked a bit sharply. 

"All quiet for now sir," Rex answered promptly, his focus still resting on the girl. "Who's the youngling?" 

"I'm Master Skywalker's _Padawan_," she said a bit importantly, stepping forward. "Name's Ahsoka Tano." 

"But, _Sir, _you said you'd never have a Padawan," Rex said to Anakin in what was for him his best accusative tone and expression.

"Look, there's been a mix-up and the youngling isn't with me," Skywalker retorted. Ahsoka looked from one to the other, her expression becoming frustrated. She turned on her new Master and chewed him out.

"Stop calling me that!" She exclaimed. Her back was to him, so Rex made a warning movement with his fingers to tell his men to mind their own business. However, the next comment was too good for even him to not help but give attention to. "You're stuck with me, Sky-guy." 

The tiny shaking of his men's armor indicated that they were laughing in the privacy of the internal muted space of their helmets, but Rex didn't have the luxury. A suppressed chuckle managed to escape his composure and he brought his hand up to his mouth to try and hide it, but it was obvious that the general had heard.

"-on't get snippy with me, little one! Are you even old enough to be a Padawan!?" To her credit, the little Togruta held her ground.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But Master Yoda thinks I am." 

"You're not with Master Yoda now," Skywalker snapped. "If you're ready, you'd better start proving it." The slightest of a satisfied glint shone in his eyes as he glanced back at Rex.

"And Captain Rex can show you how a little respect goes a long way." Rex winced. It was revenge for the laugh. 

"Right," he sighed. "Come on, youngling." Ahsoka followed dutifully on his heels, and he heard her mutter _"Padawan" _under her breath in an annoyed whisper. Oh _yeah, _this was going to be _fun_. 

Ahsoka became much more subdued as they walked in an awkward silence, her gaze thoughtful as she looked over their fortifications. 

"Have you thought about moving that line back, Captain?" She suddenly asked. "I mean, they'd have better cover that way."

"Thanks for the _suggestion... _but General Skywalker thinks they're fine right where they are," Rex replied with a meaningful emphasis on the word 'suggestion.' 

"So... If you're a Captain and I'm a Jedi, that means I outrank you, right?" Ahsoka asked. Rex paused slightly before walking again, taking the moment to appraise the Togruta's body language. In an army where everyone wore the same face as you and spoke with the same voice, the little tell-tale signs of inflection or muscle spasm were momentous differences. He looked into her wide blue eyes, finding only honest curiosity and the innocence of a child seeking to understand in their depths. 

"Well, in _my _book-" Rex phrased his words carefully. "- experience outranks everything." Ahsoka nodded, seeming satisfied with the answer. A new wave of enthusiasm swept over her. 

"If experience outranks everything, then I'd better start getting some," she said brightly. Rex couldn't help but mirror her smile, but it dissolved when she pointed out the energy field the droids were using. 

Ahsoka somehow managed to keep pace with his long strides as they sprinted back to Kenobi and Skywalker at the holo-display, and that was when Rex delivered the crushing news. Cody was nowhere in sight; supposedly he was with the heavy cannons making sure they were fit for another volley. Not that it would matter... 

Rex turned to Obi-wan as Ahsoka and Anakin walked away, still bickering. 

"They make... quite a pair, don't they sir?" Rex observed tactfully. "Think they've got a chance?" Kenobi's smile was half-hearted, and disappeared as quickly as it had sprung up.

"They'd better. If they can't turn off that shield generator before it reaches our heavy cannons there'll be no escape for any of us." He grew thoughtful. "Rex, inform Cody of the situation and then make absolutely certain that our cannons can't penetrate their defenses. I'll meet you there." 

"I'm on it sir." Rex maneuvered his way through the men, scooping up his helmet and tucking it under his arm as he went. Cody looked up from a datapad and smiled at him, frowning when he saw the look on his brother's face. 

"What's wrong?" Rex looked around, raising his voice.

"All right you lot, front and center." The other clones began to gather. "The droids have got a shield that they're advancing behind. We're gonna try a volley or two with the cannons to make sure they don't work, and if they really _can't _penetrate we'll be resorting to street fighting." 

Scattered murmuring broke out among the ranks, and Cody silenced them with his next comment. 

"So what've the generals got planned _this _time?" 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"Where's the general!?" Rex shouted as he met up with the retreating forces of his and Cody's men. Ailen glanced his way.

"I don't know, sir!" A blaster volley zinged past Rex's helmet and got so close it singed the plating with an ash stripe.

"Agh. All right fall back, fall back! We'll take up position in the old market square. Now move it!" 

"Sir! Yessir!" Well, _they _didn't need to be told twice. The droids kept advancing, and he fired one last shot at them before turning tail and racing after his troops. An explosion suddenly rocked the ground in front of him, and he went sprawling in the rubble. When Rex got back up he saw white armor picking itself out of the damage; most of it was unmoving. 

"The droids are flanking us," Ailen coughed as he heaved himself out from under a collapsed concrete slab. "Ah. Little help?" Rex grasped him just above the elbow and hauled him to his feet. The other trooper's helmet tilted as his gaze raked over the fallen.

"How many did we lose, do you think?" Ailen asked quietly.

"Battle's not over yet," Rex reminded gently, spotting the golden color on some of the armor. Cody wasn't going to take that very well. "Come on. Let's regroup with the rest of our forces." 

"Yessir." 

As they came into the ravaged city square Rex spotted a bright blue blade slicing through a company of droids; relief washed over him. As Kenobi ducked behind a control terminal Rex vaulted over the top to take cover next to him. 

"They're right behind us, sir!" Rex informed him grimly. "Wiped out most of my unit, so we had to pull out of there."

"The shield has almost reached the heavy cannons," Kenobi stated worriedly. 

"We're not gonna be able to stop 'em," Rex admitted. The general's gaze hardened into chips of blue ice. 

"Move your troops back to the cannons," he ordered. "Do what you can to protect them, and I'll delay the droids." 

"But-" Rex started to protest, but Obi-wan pulled rank.

"That's an _order_, Captain!" He barked. 

"Yessir," Rex murmured half-heartedly as he scampered off. He heard Kenobi swing back into the thick of things as he assembled what was left of his forces and went to bolster Cody's defenses. The commander wasn't in a very good mood when they joined up.

"What, you invite yourselves over and bring friends?" He stated sarcastically as his boys laid down cover fire. Rex came into a literal skidding stop next to him as the rest of the stragglers dove behind crates and rubble. 

"They're not the best party guests," Rex bantered grimly. "Feel free to kick them out any time."

"Oh, I plan to." Cody motioned with his fingers, and a few of his men came forward with rocket launchers. The bright orange blooms sent the droids flying. "Rest in pieces." One of Cody's came flying by to take up position near them. 

"Sirs! General Kenobi's been captured! There's no one else left out there."

"We'll hold out!" Rex responded. "We've got to. We can't let the shield reach our cannons. Keep fighting!" 

What remained of the droids suddenly halted, their blasters- whether built into their arms or otherwise- pointing harmlessly at the sky. Rex and Cody gave each other a long, calculating look. 

"The general?" They both said at the same moment. This hadn't been the first time Obi-Wan 'The Negotiator' Kenobi had played the surrender card to buy time, and they suspected that it wouldn't be the last. 

"Oh look, sparring buddies," Brye said sarcastically as he walked up to one of the standard droids and rapped his knuckles on its faceplate. It promptly fell over backward, and a few of the surrounding ones pointed their weapons at him. "Touchy fellas, aren't they?"

"Get back here," Rex commanded exasperatedly. "If they're not attacking you, you shouldn't provoke them if they've got you outnumbered thirty to one and have tanks." 

"Just trying to make friends with the locals sir," Brye replied with a shrug. Rex could _hear _him smirking behind the safety of his helmet. 

"What are we supposed to do sir?" The man's armor was still so clean it practically glowed in the sunlight. "Is the general actually surrendering to the Seppies?"

"He's buying time," Rex explained quietly. Suddenly he frowned. "You're a new transfer in, aren't you?"

"Yes sir." 

"What's your name?"

"Denal. Sir." 

"At ease before you sprain something. And what we're supposed to do is take the respite to reload, get into a good position of cover and aim... and be ready for another round or two. The scrap heaps won't make good on the general's surrender play forever. Understood?" A scattered reply of 'sir yes sirs.' Kix made his way through the group, his expression dark.

"Sir?" He asked quietly. "I've got a few men out here who won't last through another bout. I need them farther from the fight than I have them."

"Take Jesse and a few others to evacuate the wounded," Rex instructed, a wary eye on the droids. "Mind who's watching."

"Thank you." 

"And now we wait," Cody murmured. The two of them took up position behind an overturned crate, and when the droids started the fight back up again they were ready. The droids came at them with everything they had, and the position was soon overrun. 

"Low on ammo! Anyone got an extra pack?" Someone called. 

"There's too many of them!" Brye shouted. Rex took a glance around to assess the situation and made an executive decision. 

"Fall back, fall back!" They started moving closer to the cannons to defend them, their numbers slowly beginning to dwindle. An explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet, and through the chatty comm was heard: 

"Man down! Medic, I need a medic over here!"

"Keep your bucket on!" Kix snapped as he rushed forward. "I'm coming." The red glow of the shield faded and the sky turned back to blue; Cody's voice chirped over the comlink as the steady rumble of gunships thundered above them.

"All cannons, fire on those tanks!"

"With pleasure, sir!" Someone replied. The heavy cannons sent out a barrage and the fight turned in their favor, the enemy tanks rendered useless. 

"Rex!" Cody called. "I've got the situation handled here. Feel free to take some men and check up on General Skywalker."

"Thanks Cody!" Rex dragged a few of his troopers into a gunship and they took off, the wind buffeting them with strong gusts as they clung to the hand-grips and looked out of the open bay sides. Soon they were far into enemy airspace, but the droids had advanced with all of their forces and had left their shield generator far behind them. It was easier to spot the smoking remains of the generator first, and the gunship landed at the far end of a long flat stretch of stone. Anakin walked toward them with Ahsoka trotting almost dutifully behind, and even Rex had to admit that he was happy to see her safe. 

"Nice job General Skywalker," Rex greeted as they stepped into the larty. He felt an inexplicable surge of protective admiration flare up inside his chest as Ahsoka had to stand on her tip-toes to grasp the hand-grip, the ship lurching as it always did upon take-off.

"You too, kid." Ahsoka looked up at him with wide blue eyes and smiled. Maybe this Padawan thing wouldn't be so bad after all.


	7. And Then There Were None I

_"Red Light." _The click of safetys switching off. The stamp of boots to determine the looseness of armor plating. The last-minute attempts to sort out communication problems before the battle. The booming of enemy artillery exploding above and around them. 

_"Welcome to paradise, rock jumpers."_ Teth was a decisively wild environment, with tall cliffs and sharp peaked outcroppings rising out of a misty jungle periodically. Indigenous wildlife were for the most part harmless, but there were some large cave-dwelling creatures that preferred a nocturnal environment and would feast on flesh under the cover of the darkness. All in all the temperature wasn't too hot, and the humidity was only a little high; in the wobbling sixtieth percentile range. It was actually a nice place for a camping trip, if there weren't any droids shooting at you...

_"Green Light."_ Rex took a moment to collect himself, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes. He opened them with the slide of the gunship's bay doors; a subdued orange-gold light crept in with trailers of mist as they jumped out onto the jungle floor. 

"Go! Go go go!" Rex shouted, signaling his troops toward the cliff face. There was a small overhang at the bottom that provided good cover for a staging area, and they lined up against the hard surface in one single, stretched row. 

"This is where the fun begins," Tano said enthusiastically, her gaze scanning the droid-infested cliff face that they had to climb before getting to the monastery.

"Race you to the top?" Anakin asked hopefully. Ahsoka smiled. 

"I'll give you a head start." Skywalker smirked as he dashed out of hiding and leapt high into the air, grabbing onto a creeping vine.

"Your mistake." Rex was used to his general's orders- or lack thereof- by this point, and he followed.

"Ascension cables!" He barked whilst firing his own. The AT-TE walkers followed diligently behind as the troops battled their way upward. 

"I hate fighting like this," Brye growled from somewhere below him. "They have the advantage."

"But _we've_ got the Jedi," Ailen pointed out. "I think we're pretty even." severed droid parts littered down from above, the cuts from the lightsabers still glowing bright orange. "Case in point." Ahsoka and Anakin were niff-nawing about something, and the General had taken one of the droids' aerial gun mounts. He zipped past their heads for the lip of the top, rapidly ascending.

"Rex, follow me!"

"Yessir!" Rex replied. More quietly on the comm he muttered under his breath, "Working on it..."

"Want a lift?" Ahsoka called. She was standing on one of the walkers, deflecting blasterfire that was aimed at it. 

"Any time." He and a few nearby clones swung on their lines, severing them once they were safely on the walker. Other troopers near enough to the AT-TEs were smartly following suit. Droid parts were flying over the edge above them, sparks brightly crackling in the air.

"Looks like my new master is a bit impatient," Ahsoka observed. 

"You don't know the half of it Commander," someone sighed. With all the noise going on Rex couldn't tell who. They looked up as Anakin's voice filtered down to them.

"Blast it, Ahsoka! I told you to stay close to me!"

The feet of their AT-TE curved up onto the surface of the monastery's flat courtyard; Rex and the troops vacated before the Cannon fired and took out the remaining droids.

"Can't get much closer Skyguy," Ahsoka retorted with enough cheeky sarcasm to put a smuggler to shame. Rex left them to it and listened to the rest of his forces reporting in. 

"All clear general," he said after a few moments. Anakin smiled.

"Nice work, Rex." The Jedi glanced at the gathering men, noting the casualties. "Have some men stay here to look after the wounded. The rest will follow us into the monastery."

"Roger that, sir. Just so you know, the gunships will be holding at a safe distance until General Kenobi's forces arrive." Ahsoka was looking around at the carnage of twisted metal. Anakin noticed and addressed it.

"There's way too many droids here for them to be from a renegade government," he explained, expression darkening. "I can sense Count Dooku behind this. Let's find Jabba's son and get out of here."

"That won't be a problem," Ahsoka replied brightly; there seemed to be a skip in her step as she tried to keep pace with her far-taller master. "Hard part's already over."

"I really wish you wouldn't have said that," Skywalker groaned. 

"Is she _trying _to get us killed??" Brye exclaimed over the internal comm. "_Never _say a mission was easy until _after _you're finished with it."

"Shut up Brye," Ailen snapped. Rex smiled. Brye was right; Ailen really _did _remind him of their mutual squad mate Chester. 

"All right everybody," Rex ordered. "Into the dark and uninviting monastery." Denal took one look at the place and then complained. 

"Captain, do we have to?"

"What? Scared of the dark, shiny?" Brye retorted before Rex could get a word in edgewise. 

"No. It's the... aesthetic of the place."

"Stand back, guys. We've got an _interior decorator _over here."

"Leave him alone." Ailen cut in as they walked through the wide opening of the monastery; it was so black that they had to turn on their helmet-lights. Footsteps echoed eerily through the darkness, and Rex had to suppress a shudder.

"I don't like this place," he admitted openly with a mutter. "Gives me the creeps." Denal filtered back over the internal comm. 

"See? Captain agrees with me."

"We _all _agree with you." It was Jesse. Rex was glad for the umpteenth time that he and Kix had transferred into Company R-6: _Torrent Company, _as made popular by practically everyone including the Supreme Chancellor because it sold better publicity- and that they had made it off Geonosis alive. 

"I thought you were staying behind with Kix," Brye commented curiously. 

"Not on your life. Creepy dungeons are _fun_." 

"You messed up your shoulder again, didn't you?" Ailen guessed.

"He did _what!?_"

"Hey Kix." 

"All right, cut the chatter," Rex reprimanded. He could tell by Anakin's movements that the Jedi could sense something close by, and he didn't want to be caught unawares. "Place could be filled with tinnies for all we know." 

The general's lightsaber suddenly activated; a humming bar of bright blue light illumined the shape of an insect-faced protocol droid. Blasters were instantly aimed at it. 

"Is this a good guy or a bad guy, master?" Ahsoka asked uneasily. Skywalker's eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"I am merely the humble caretaker, mighty sir. You have liberated me from those dreadful battle bots and for that I am most grateful."

"Where's the Hutt?" 

"The battle bots kept their prisoners on the detention level." The tremulous robotic voice seemed to lower. "I must warn you: it is a very dangerous place down there, my friend." The head dipped down, the bug-like eyes staring widely at the little Togruta. "Certainly no place for a serving-girl."

Rex wasn't attuned to the Force, but he could spot an angry individual from a long ways off. The rich blue stripes of Ahsoka's lekku turned navy, the orange skin seeming to pulse with a reddish tinge. Her lightsaber hissed into life, the vibrant green blade coming up underneath the droid's head.

"Do servant girls carry _these!?" _She asked. "I'm a Jedi Knight." A reproachful glance from her master as she stood down, though her hackles were still up. "Or soon will be." She shoved her way past the droid with Anakin on her heels. He paused just long enough to give orders.

"Captain, we'll get the hutt. Keep your eyes open while we're gone." 

"Copy that, sir." 

"Does this mean we can get out of the creepy castle now?" Brye asked hopefully.

"Let's go boys," Rex said. They withdrew back into the watery sunlight of the afternoon, and he sent a few men to patrol the courtyard. Jesse returned about seven minutes later. 

"No sign of any more droids, Captain." 

"All right, Sergeant." Rex turned to his comm. "General Skywalker? Castle secure. And..." a glance at the sky. "It's nearly midday."

_"Thanks Rex. Got Jabba's son. Any sign of General Kenobi?"_

"No sir." There was a sigh on the other end.

_"All right. We're heading back. Let me know if you hear from Obi-wan." _

"Copy that."

"Sir?" It was the rookie, Denal. "I've got a bad feeling about this." 

"Why?" Rex asked. Denal, helmet-less, looked uncomfortable.

"Well, it was too easy. If the Separatists were behind the huttlet's abduction then there should have been more of a fight." Rex's smile was grim.

"You're learning, rookie. You're learning." 

"So you're expecting trouble?" Denal said, surprised. Kix came up to join them.

"Wounded are settled, sir. I'd recommend doing an evac before the second wave shows up."

"I just checked with Cody. They're not anywhere close to being available for that yet. We're on our own." 

"Typical. Uh... you haven't seen Jesse around anywhere, have you? I need to strangle him."

"I think he's hiding under the tank fuel cell pretending to be doing a tune-up." 

"Thanks, sir."

"No problem." Denal watched the field medic leave with a vaguely terrified look on his face. 

"He wouldn't... actually strangle him, would he?" He asked. Rex laughed a short, dry chuckle. 

"_Always _take a medic at their word, kid." 

"Giving out more helpful proverbs, Rex?" Anakin asked as he and Ahsoka came back out into the courtyard. Denal slipped away with a short but respectful 'sir' and went to go talk with another of the troopers. 

"Just trying to make life easier for my brothers, General." His nose wrinkled under his helmet when he smelled the Huttlet, gaze finding it wriggling about in Ahsoka's arms. "Ah. Found our quarry I see." The young Padawan adjusted her grip, appearing to be tired of handling the baby. Anakin smirked.

"How do you like your little buddy now? Still cute?"

"He reminding me of _you _more and more," Ahsoka retorted sourly, seemingly satisfied when her master rolled his eyes. The Huttlet squirmed about and made a gurgling noise. "See? Two of a kind." Rex laughed in the solitude of his helmet. Maybe this mission wasn't going to be too bad after all.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The monastery door slammed shut with an echoing clang, and Jesse shot a gaping hole through the control panel without having to be asked. It sizzled and sparked, sending curlers of smoke into the darkness.

"That won't hold them for long sir," Denal pointed out worriedly. 

"We'll stay here until General Kenobi arrives with reinforcements," Skywalker stated definitively. He noticed Ahsoka eyeing him reproachfully and became a little kid again. "_What??_" 

"Master, do you really think we can hold them off? We need to find a way out of this place."

"Our _mandate_ is to protect this Hutt and that's what we're gonna do Ahsoka," Anakin retorted crossly. But the little Togruta refused to give ground. It was one of the reasons that Rex was rapidly becoming attached to her, despite his better judgement...

"Our _mandate _is to get Stinky back to Tatooine, and time is running out!" The Jedi Knight sighed, knowing when he was beaten.

"I suppose you have a plan then?" He asked. Ahsoka was suddenly less certain of herself. 

"I think so... that is, R2 willing." 

"Okay Snips, I'll trust you on this one." The debate over, he turned to Rex. "Captain, hold them here as long as you can." 

"Will do, sir." It was time for the rally, but they all knew that the mission was suicide. "You heard the General! Get ready to turn those clankers into scrap metal!" 

"I don't have to be told twice," Brye muttered as he checked his utility belt for extra ammo clips. The two Jedi took off down the passage, and Anakin paused for a moment, his gaze locking with Rex's even through the obscuring t-slit visor.

"We'll be fine sir," Rex assured. Skywalker nodded before following his Padawan. Rex turned back to face the door, cold resignation settling heavily into his chest. "Just fine." 


	8. And Then There Were None II

"They cut the lock!" Kix. 

"Here they come!" Rex didn't know who and at the moment he didn't have time to care. 

"Hold the line!" He ordered, although self-preservation was winning out as more of his men moved deeper into the monastery's entry. "Second wave, second wave!" 

"Watch your left!" 

"They're flanking us!" 

"When's General Kenobi coming with those reinforcements!?" 

"Man down!" 

"There's too many of them!" 

"_Ventress!_" Somehow, in all the chaos, Rex managed to pick that exclamation out of the other jumbled shouting. The assassin came into the monastery like a dark thunderstorm, lightsabers flashing quick as red lightning through the dusty air. Then his men were suddenly flying across the open space, and Rex struck his head against a stone column before everything went black. 

The world was one large blur when he came to, and the noises sounded far away. Everything came back into its usual sharp focus at a quick but steady pace. 

"-eal the main gate and all the portals. Nothing's escaping this castle."

"Yes, mistress." Rex narrowed his eyes, tightened his grip around one of his blasters, and started firing for all he was worth. Ventress blocked every shot; one of the blasts were deflected back to strike the weapon out of his grasp. He was slammed back into the column with a sharp exhalation at the unexpected contact, and when he went to get that precious oxygen back there was the feeling of phantom fingers- cold as death- wrapped around his windpipe. 

Instinctual panic set in; gloved fingers clawed vainly at the neckline of his bodysuit. Rex kicked his feet but found that they were off the ground, and in the struggle for breath Ventress had moved closer. 

"Where is Skywalker?" She asked. 

"I- don't... talk. To Separatist- _scum,_" Rex spat. The assassin released her grip, and he collapsed onto the floor taking in deep ragged breaths. 

"You will contact Skywalker now," Ventress commanded, her hand moving in front of his face. Rex could feel the Force trying to plant the suggestion on his consciousness; a sort of haze at the edges of his field of vision. Part of him was elated that she had underestimated his willpower. The other part was insulted. 

"_I_ will contact Skywalker now," he repeated in his best subservient drone attitude, although it was punctuated by pants as he tried to get his breath back. Really, it was just too easy. Rex activated his wrist-comm and set to work. 

"Anakin," he said. "Come in." It wasn't as if Ventress knew any better. Still... the name sounded odd and felt wrong as it rolled off of his tongue. There was no reply. "We've held the droids, sir." 

"You will ask for his location," Ventress commanded. 

"What is your location?" Rex asked. He knew the informality of his comments would tip the general off. Aside from that, he had no plan. 

"Why does he not respond?" Dooku's pet was growing irritated. Even though she couldn't see his face she must have sensed his satisfaction, because she suddenly turned on him in a fit of anger. 

"What... did you do?" She growled. 

"Did you really think I was that stupid?" Rex asked pointedly. Ventress raised her hand to hit him before remembering that striking armor with bare bone wasn't worth the pain it caused, and she turned away disgusted. 

"Insignificant insect," she muttered. "It doesn't matter." 

"Uh, mistress?" It was the lead droid on the holo. "I should inform you that Republic reinforcements have arrived." 

"Hold them off until I complete my mission," Ventress snapped. "Do you _understand?_" 

"Yes sir- uh- ma'am- sir- uh- launch all fighters!" 

"Now or never sir," Jesse said quietly over the internal comm. 

"Patience," Rex replied just as quietly. "How many of us are left? Sound off." Various replies of 'here' and 'still alive' were returned to him in response. He counted them up and felt a jolt of shock travel through his body. Only twenty-three. They'd had ninety-seven after getting off of Christophsis.

" ...Sir?" Denal's uncertain voice brought him out of it. 

"Okay. Just... follow my lead. We have to wait for the right opportunity." 

"When it comes I'll be ready," Brye swore. All humor was gone. 

The droids rounded them up and marched them toward the openness of the courtyard, hands behind their heads. Ailen made a show of walking very slowly forward until he was parallel to his captain. 

"I'm ready sir," he whispered. "Just give the word." 

"They seem to be using an internal comm frequency," one of the droids noted in its nasally-mechanical voice.

"Do all of these guys sound like they have a head-cold, or is it just me?" Brye asked. 

"Not the time," Kix muttered. 

"No talking amongst the prisoners," the droid sergeant commanded. If it were possible, he sounded irritated. Rex's communicator started beeping, and the droids took interest. 

"_Come in Rex. Do you copy? Rex?"_

"What was that?" The sergeant asked, now sounding annoyed. "It came from the prisoners." Ah. _There _was the opportunity Rex had been waiting for...

_"Do you copy?"_

"Lemme show you how it works, clanker," he offered. Switching to the internal comm he added, "This is it. Steady..." When the droid was close enough he bashed it in the head with his arm-plate, then grabbed its blaster and started shooting. His remaining men followed suit. They took cover where they could find it, the fight exploding again. 

_"Captain Rex, respond." _The downed walker was still useful, Rex reflected as he ducked behind it.

"I read you, sir. We're pinned down in the courtyard."

_"Do you need help?"_

"Sir! Reinforcements!" Someone shouted. Rex took the time to fire a few rounds before ducking again.

_"I'll take that as a 'yes.' Stand by. Skywalker out." _

"Can't hold out much longer sir. Where's General Skywalker?" Dart asked as Rex joined him in a new cover position. His other one had been compromised. 

"He'll be here," Rex replied. At least, he hoped so. The Seps were picking them off one by one, and they'd all been forced to take refuge in what scant cover the fallen AT-TE provided. The sky above them was alight with explosions as Kenobi's forces arrived, and small specks could be seen in the clouds as approaching gunships neared. 

Denal downed a vulture droid, providing a new source of cover.

"This is it," Rex said as the two of them moved to the new location. "Scrap 'em!" 

"I've got nothing else planned today anyway," Brye retorted. 

"My blaster's conked out," Dart said over the comm. "It was nice knowing you sir."

"Dart, _no!_" Rex couldn't be sure who had spoken first, but there were several identical voices overlapping as Dart ran out from his hiding place to try and get a new weapon. He ran into a super battle droid instead and ended up with a round through the chest. 

"Surrender Republic dogs," a mechanical voice ordered. Rex and Denal climbed on top of the downed vulture droid that they had been using for cover so that they had the high ground, and the captain didn't need a comm system to tell him that the gunships were extremely close. He could hear their engines now. 

"We've got you outnumbered!" Rex retorted. 

"Outnumbered!? Wait, one, two, three- aaah!" 

"Nice timing sir," Rex commented as General Kenobi dropped down in their midst. The fighters had made a strafing run and taken out much of the opposition. 

"Where's Skywalker?" 

"Best guess? Still in the castle sir." The gunships were hovering now, dropping troops from the 212th into the courtyard before withdrawing to a safer area.

"Right. Keep the droids occupied. I'll go find Anakin."

"Not much else to do, begging the General's pardon."

"Cody will be along soon. Until then, you're in charge of my men. Understood?"

"Yessir." Kenobi took off, his lightsaber glowing eerily in the shadows of the monastery. Rex suddenly found himself surrounded by gold-painted armor, and grew concerned when he couldn't find any with navy until Brye dropped out of nowhere with four other men behind him and lead a charge directly into the droid lines. 

"Nice of you to join the party," Rex commented sarcastically. "Find the rest of our forces and regroup." There was an awkward, static-filled pause before Brye responded. 

"Rex, this is it. We're all that's left. Just the six of us, counting you." 

" ...Understood. Ah... fall in with the 212th, then. We're making a run for the front door." 

"Sir. Yessir." 

_"Captain Rex? This is General Skywalker." _Rex paused just long enough to register the rusted-out ship hurtling toward them. It amazed him that it was even airborn.

"General?"

_" ...We're not going to be able to help you." _It was spoken as a sigh, and the only reason that Rex didn't feel betrayed was because it was obviously killing Skywalker to leave them there. 

"Don't worry about us, sir. We'll- be all right." Even still, he couldn't keep the broken hollowness out of his response. "Mission always comes first, sir." The old ship screamed toward the atmosphere, and Rex moved to the front lines. 

"What, you started without me?" Cody said as he joined the fray. He made a _tssk tssk _sound and shook his head slightly. "Where are your manners?"

"Left them with the rest of my Company," Rex responded darkly. "Let's just get this mess cleaned up so we can get back to the ship." 

" ...Okay then." The Commander's gaze seemed to focus directly ahead of them. "Want to make this your problem?"

"I hate spiders. Cover me!" Rex ran forward, went skidding underneath the droid to plant a nice little explosive present, and ran like mad to roll into a crouching position as it went kaboom. "Not a problem anymore."

"You want to take your men and fall back toward the gunships?" Cody suggested worriedly. Rex's behavior wasn't at all as pleasant or receptive as it usually was, and that was setting off countless warning bells.

"_Are you kidding!?" _Brye shouted over the comm. _"Sir, we can't leave now. Not after what these guys did to us. We can't-"_

"Sergeant." The trooper fell silent, put back into his place. Rex turned back to Cody. "He's got a point. We're staying." 

"On your own head be it," Cody murmured. Kenobi came out of the monastery and took up residence right between them, deflecting blaster bolts right and left. 

"Captain, I understand that General Skywalker escaped." It wasn't a question, and if Rex hadn't been on the brink of collapse he would have wondered how he knew. But his mind was too tired, too numb with shock at their losses, to even care. 

"Yessir. On some beat-up old spice freighter. Be surprised if he makes it to Tatooine in that junker."

"If anyone can fly a bucket of bolts through hyperspace he can," Obi-wan assured. "Commander? Begin pulling the men back. We're done here." 

"Yessir." Cody started barking orders, but Rex had finally reached the point where he couldn't physically go on any longer. He sent a quiet retreat order to the few survivors of Torrent Company, and they limped toward the gunships like akk dogs with their tails between their legs. Kix tried to assess them at first, but eventually Rex snapped at him to rest and he obeyed. It spoke volumes to the captain that the fiery temperament of his medic had been subdued. 

"That's the last of it," Cody said as he leapt into the gunship with them. There was the usual lurch as it took off. He surveyed the fatigued 501st in surprise. "Where're the rest of you?" 

"This is it," Rex replied quietly.

"Just the six of you??"

" ...Just the six of us."


	9. Repercussions

It was almost peaceful in the turbolift. He was alone, and allowed to address his most private of thoughts. Every time he went back to the events earlier in the day he kept coming to the same conclusion. Every path, every consideration, wound up at the singular end result. It was his fault. 

Rex watched the lights flicker as the turbolift hummed admirably toward the bridge, but he knew his heart wasn't in it. After a few moments he punched the emergency stop and slumped against the sleek metallic wall, eyes closed and breathing heavy. It was his fault. 

Six, out of ninety-seven. Six. All his fault. 

Rex suddenly turned and struck out with his left fist, feeling the shock of the vibrations travel painfully through his bones and up his arm as his gauntlet connected with the sturdy durasteel wall. With the pain came a sense of sharp, accentuated clarity. Each punch bit deeper into the hard surface, etching the supposedly scratch-proof coating. His fault. 

It was as if his mind and body were disconnected from each other, inversely delivering their respective messages. Another dull thud, a slight dent. The brain needed the release. A dull thud, this time accompanied by a crack. He winced; the body objected to the beating. It told the brain to stop. The brain heard a reason to keep going. Dull thud. Crack. A fresh burst of agonizing pain. The inside of his glove felt wet. Thud. Crack, crack. The material of the bodysuit mesh had torn after snagging on a broken edge of his gauntlet; it had splintered under the force of impact. So much for government-issued product. Thud. Crack. A red smear. Thud, crack cra-crack crack. Drip. Drip. Drip. His fault.

The captain paused in his abuse of the wall- which had a sizeable if shallow fist-shaped dent in it now- to stare in confusion at his hand. The knuckles were swollen, the joints dislocated, the bones broken. It was a mess of cuts and seeping blood, which was steadily beginning to trickle off the tips of his fingers to fall onto the floor. The brain suddenly understood the body. Enough was enough. The damage registered, and it hurt like fire. His fault, too. 

Numbly, Rex braced his back against the wall again and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. His legs refused to support him. His forehead gently came to a rest against his knees. The neck buckled under the stress. Slowly he brought his good hand up- his right one- to grasp at the armplate just above the left wrist. He wrapped his arms around his legs and just sat there for the longest amount of time, trying to control the shivering and unable to give any more than he had already given. Mental and physical trauma were always followed by mental and physical exhaustion. He knew what it was. It was survivor's guilt. Why him? Why not them? The questions danced around the one firm thing in his mind that he could agree with himself on, and that was that it was his fault.

He was the commanding officer, and every decision he made affected the lives of the men under him. It was a tremendous responsibility, and a sobering thought. There hadn't been enough time to get to know all of those men. He didn't even know some of their names. Any excuse he could give wasn't acceptable for that. He should have _made _time. He should have moved his men to a more fortified position. He should have- should have- should- It was all his fault. 

Six. Out of ninety-seven. Out of one hundred and ten. Only six. Each one, his decisions. His fault. 

Eventually he was able to pull himself together enough to get up and turn the turbolift back on. Rex couldn't feel anything except for the pulsing throb of pain in his left hand as he walked down the halls of the _Reliant_, not even the thready vibrating hum of its inner workings underneath the soles of his feet. It was hard enough just to focus, to concentrate on where he needed to go. He needed medical attention. He needed to be alone. He needed... he needed time to think. _All my fault. _

The emptiness of the room caught up his footfalls and cast echoes about; they played among the barracks bunks and only served to make more apparent the absence of the departed members of Torrent Company. Rex paused when he reached the end of the room, incapable of going any farther. The other five survivors were grouped together around Kix's bunk, and he was applying bandages to wounds. At any other time Rex would have ordered them to the med bay to be properly patched up and put through the procedures of bureaucratic medicine, but he couldn't even approach them at that moment. There was an overwhelming sense of guilt weighing on his spirit and crushing him. It was all his fault. 

Brye happened to glance up and make eye contact with him, a haunted expression on his face. The man made an effort to sit up straight, brushing shaggy long strands of barely regulation bleach blond hair away from his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. There simply wasn't anything to say. Rex didn't feel worthy of holding his brother's gaze as he paused away from the group, unable to continue closer. It was all his fault. 

The room was so quiet that the steady drip of his bleeding hand onto the floor was magnified. Kix looked up from inspecting Jesse's shoulder and then silently gestured for him to come closer. There was something oddly reassuring about the clinical approach Kix took to his job, the way he removed Rex's gauntlet and glove with swift effectiveness and noted the stifled gasp of pain that accompanied the action by going more carefully. He had been given advanced field medic training far beyond theirs, and he knew- or could make a pretty good guess- by the breaks and cuts just what exactly had inflicted the damage. The only thing he said was a quiet request to no one in particular for bacta compresses. 

"This'll hurt." Kix ran his fingers gently over the bones, occasionally pressing down. Clicks and clacks followed, along with winces and grunts of discomfort. 

"Had to set some of the bones back in place." He reached for the compresses- tiny, thin pads almost dripping with bacta solution- and began sticking them onto Rex's hand until the entire surface of skin was covered. A request for gauze, which he wrapped expertly around to hold the compresses in place. 

"Almost done." Kix reached into a field pack and pulled out a liquid solution of some sort of carbon plaster. He poured it into a mold and waited a few minutes, then pulled the pieces out without issue. They clipped neatly together around Rex's left hand and rested against the fingers. Next came another layer of gauze. The practicality of the movements brought Rex back to firmer ground, and he felt suddenly embarrassed by his behavior. He was an officer, not a youngling. He didn't have the luxury of behaving like one. 

Kix took out a small bottle, shook it, and then sprayed something over the gauze. It instantly hardened. 

"Finished. Waterproof, and I'll take it off in a few days. Fits underneath a glove and gauntlet. Minimum movement recommended."

"Thank you." The others had been watching all this in silence.

"It wasn't your fault, you know," Denal said quietly. Ailen and Jesse nodded agreement. Rex sighed.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Doesn't mean I'll ever stop replaying it all in my mind, looking for things that could've been done differently."

"That's why we'll follow you," Brye replied. Rex looked each of them over: Kix, Jesse, Ailen, Denal, Brye... and himself. The last surviving members of the original Torrent Company. Everything was a long way from being okay, but at least there were five other men who knew exactly what he was going through.

Rex would never forgive himself for what had happened, but for the first time since the fight he began to believe that it wasn't entirely his fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm sure many of you who got interested in the prologue I posted AGES AGO were wondering if this was ever gonna update. Truth is, it got lost in my upload queue and I forgot to upload here. I posted this first on Wattpad, and it hadn't quite stuck that I needed to post here as well, and so the story goes. Sorry, everyone. I'll try to be more regular moving forward. Just know that I have about 53 chapters completed to get through before I get caught up with the hiatus I inflicted on the Wattpad content, and with Season 7 coming soon I'll probably resume working on this and get it done.


	10. Rookies

Rex shifted uncomfortably in his seat, waiting for Cody to finish delivering his report of the inspection to their respective generals. Cockpits, he decided, were something he wasn't fond of. They were small, cramped, and full of buzzing panels that flickered incessantly demanding his undivided attention. No, it was better to be the passenger than the pilot. 

"That's twelve down and three to go," Cody stated satisfactorily as he slid into the raised co-pilot's seat behind him. Rex flicked a few switches and the craft rumbled in protest as it took off. 

"Next on the list is... Rishi."

"Listen, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but how goes the recruitment?" 

"It isn't," Rex muttered. Cody frowned.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm heading up the black ops unit of the regular army, that's why. Torrent Company is assigned to missions that are too big for the commando teams to handle but too delicate for infantry battalions. We need men with experience, not shinies."

"They might surprise you," Cody reasoned optimistically. "I've heard good things about this latest batch."

"Well we'll see, won't we?"

"I don't follow."

"According to the file Rishi is comprised of a single experienced sarge and an entire cabaret of rookies," Rex explained. "So we'll see first hand. Have you got the navicomputer programmed?" 

"Almost. Just getting the last coordinates set. And... We're good to go." Rex punched the hyperdrive and the stars lengthened into long streaks as they passed them by. Cody was, mercifully, not big on any form of communication that didn't have a purpose behind it. He was straight to the point- if not sarcastic and dry as Tatooine from time to time- and practical. Rex was grateful for that, recognizing that in his current mood he would most likely have murdered Brye for incessant chatter by now. It had been a long inspection tour to be cramped in such close quarters, and uncomfortably reminded him of what it had been like inside the growth jar. 

Cody followed procedure with the best of them. As soon as they dropped out of hyperspace he commed the outpost.

"Rishi Outpost, this is Commander Cody," he said pleasantly. "Do you copy? Rishi Outpost, please respond." They waited a bit.

"No response," Rex murmured.

"Probably just forgot to mind their station," Cody sighed. "Rishi Outpost, come in. Rishi Outpost, come in."

_"Sorry, Commander. We're experiencing- um... technical diffeeculties." _

"This is the inspection team." 

_"Inspection- negative, negative. We do not require an inspection... at this time. Everything is fine... uh... thank you."_

"We'll be the judge of that," Cody reminded pointedly. "Prepare for our arrival."

_"Roger Roger."_

"Something's not right," Rex muttered. 

"Well then, good luck." Cody was in an unusually chipper mood. "I'm putting you in charge of this one."

"What sort of technical difficulties could they be having, I wonder?"

"Probably just interference. You know they had a meteor storm a little bit ago."

"Maybe." But Rex's suspicions were thoroughly aroused, and it would take more than a generic excuse to quiet them again. His hackles were up, and he was ready for something to go wrong. They were given clearance to the landing platform, and as the ramp folded down they found that they were quite alone. Despite Cody's belief that all was well he followed Rex's precaution of walking out with a loaded blaster.

"This isn't good," he muttered. "I don't see the deck officer anywhere. ... These boys are sloppy. Should always be a man on duty."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Rex voiced quietly. 

"Welcome to Rishi, Commander."

"Got your wish about that officer," Rex needled over their private frequency. 

"Wishing I hadn't." The Deck Officer advanced forward with precise, jerky movements and stopped in front of them, then proceeded to speak with highly exaggerated hand gestures.

"As you can see, the base. is. fully operational. Thank you for coming and. have a safe. trip. back."

"Yeah, we need to inspect the base all the same," Cody stated. They began walking forward, but the man wouldn't move out of the way. 

"There is no need," he stated adamantly. "Everything is fine and fully operational."

"Take us to the Sergeant in command," Cody demanded. The officer caved.

" ...Roger Roger."

"Are you getting a weird vibe off this guy?" Rex asked privately. Cody took in a breath to answer, but was interrupted from doing so by a bright streak of red shooting up into the night sky. 

"A droid attack flare!?" He exclaimed. It was the only proof Rex needed. He turned back to the "deck officer," leveled his blaster right with the t-slit eyeline, and fired. The man went down in the space of a heartbeat.

"Rex! What are you doing!?"

"Relax," Rex soothed as he bent onto his heels and pulled off the officer's helmet. "Knew it. One of those new commando droids."

"Then the flare must have come from the survivors." 

"We've got other things to worry about," Rex muttered as more of the clankers showed up. "Ambush!" 

"These clankers have tough armor!" Cody growled. "Ah... we're cut off!" The two of them were maneuvered into what any sane tactician would have labeled a kill box, back to back with scant shelter provided by a few shipping crates. When the grenades showed up there was nothing for it.

"Off the platform!" Rex shouted. Cody spotted the explosives and started without him. 

"Copy that," he said as he heaved himself over the side of the landing platform. Rex was only milliseconds behind. They shot their ascension cables during free fall and ended up dangling from the underside. Above, the droids continued their mission.

"No sign of them, Commander."

"They must have been pulverized." Ridiculously mechanical laughter followed them all the way back inside the building, and it wasn't until they could no longer hear it that either of them risked letting the cable out so that they could drop to solid ground. 

"That sure complicates things Commander," Rex grumbled as they landed. Everything around them was covered in smoke from flaming debris of their ship. " ...Still, no worse than that time on Tibrin."

"We had Jedi with us on Tibrin," Cody reminded with a sigh. "_They _helped." A clattering of stones focused their attention in a particular area as three armored forms detached themselves from the billowing smoke.

"Hands above your head!" Rex ordered. After all, you could never be too careful with commando droids about. "Take your sun bonnets off."

"Uh- _sir?" _One of them asked, bewildered. 

"Take 'em off, _now."_ There was slight hesitation, but then they took off their helmets to reveal three identical faces. Rex was about to say something to Cody when an eel exploded out from one of the holes in the moon's porous surface. 

"I have _had enough_ of this place," Rex muttered crossly on the private comm as he took aim and fired. The shot went true and struck the creature directly in its right eye; it fell with a thud as it hit the ground. Still, it was a good idea to make certain it was dead...

"Nice shot," one of the troopers murmured as he stooped to check the entry point of the killing shot, taking off his helmet as he did so. His glove came away wet with dark blue blood. Turning back to the three survivors he was struck by their features. They were just so... fresh. Younger than any rookies he'd ever met, meaning that they were _really_ fresh from training. 

"The name's Rex. But you'll call me 'Captain' or 'sir.' Understood?" Their reaction would be very telling. All three stood ramrod straight and replied at the exact same time. From the same training squad, then.

"Sir, yes sir!" 

"I'm Commander Cody, your new boss," Cody introduced as he took off his own helmet. 

"My designation is 27-5555 sir," one said quickly. He seemed edgy, though it was hard to tell if that was his natural personality or a side effect of the rush of adrenaline as of yet.

"We call him Fives," another of them said. He seemed... calm. Tense, but calm. "I'm Hevy, and this is Echo." 

"Where's your Sergeant?" Cody asked. 

"Dead, sir." Fives' expression darkened with sadness as Echo replied, but it was appropriately resigned. Rex revised his earlier impression of the man accordingly. "We're all that's left." 

"Looks like we've got ourselves a batch of shinies, Commander," Rex stated as he walked toward them.

"Shinies, sir?" This one was Echo. Interestingly enough, he was curious more than insulted. Most troopers could sense that it was a derogatory statement on their woeful lack of experience and took offense. Rex came to a stop in front of him.

"That's right," he said. "Your armor. Shiny and new, just like you." He slapped his hand down on the man's upper right portion of the chest plate, leaving a handprint in navy from the eel blood. Even though Cody didn't say anything, the look on his face did.

_"Marking your territory?" _He was silently teasing. Rex made a near-invisible shrug of the shoulders.

_"They've got promise. No guarantees yet."_

"Sir?" Hevy stepped forward, interrupting their non-verbal conversation. "Me and my batchers are trained and ready. So we'll take back our post... shiny or not." It had been a while since Rex had had any reason to genuinely smile, but that did the trick. He turned back to look at the three troopers and flashed a small grin.

"There's hope for you yet, rookie." 

"Our first step is to figure out a way back inside," Cody stated as they donned their helmets and began the climb back toward the landing platform.

"So look sharp, because as long as those tweezers occupy this base our home planet of Kamino's at risk." There wasn't any time for sugar-coating, and Rex was more of a salt man himself.

"But... there's so many of them," Echo pointed out.

"Doesn't matter, kid. We have to retake this base, so we _will _retake this base." There was a conspicuous attempt at straightening out the spine even more and the cocking of blasters.

"How do you propose we get through those blast doors, Rex ol' boy?" Cody asked. Despite the dire situation he was amused by Rex's dealings with the shinies, and it had put him in an amiable mood.

"I have a few ideas," Rex retorted, helmet tilting as he looked toward the landing platform. 

"And?"

"And you're not going to like any of them."

"_Great_." The sarcasm was almost a form of language of its own. "When do we start?" 

"Five minutes ago. Now let's climb." The going was slow, and hard. But using the ascension cables was too great a risk, and besides that none of the shinies had them. Once over the edge of the cliff-face they crept to the landing platform to watch the commando droid on patrol. 

"Permission to call them SepComs, sir?" Fives asked. 

"I don't think he heard you," Echo whispered as Rex made a quick dash across the exposed terrain and severed the neck of the droid with a pocket vibroblade which he always kept folded up in one of his belt pouches.

"Those aren't standard kit," Cody observed as the others scrambled to join him. Rex twirled the sharp object between his fingers, fully aware that one slip would result in the loss of them. 

"I don't trust procurement any more than I'd trust a Weeqauy as my banker. I'll pack my own gear, thank you very much." Cody just shook his head and scanned the terrain for more hostiles as he and the rookies moved out of view of the visual receptor. A deep, mechanical voice crackled over the base's comm. 

_"Unit 2-6, is that you?"_

"Roger Roger," Rex replied as he walked toward the device with careful and precise movements. 

_"You sound strange. Is there something wrong with your vocabulator?" _A show was made of pretending to adjust, and greater effort put into replying more machine-like.

"R_og_er R_og_er." Apparently, he was a terrible actor.

_"Take off your helmet. Let me see your face-plate."_

_"_Ro_ger _Ro_ger." _Rex ducked down out of view, bringing the severed head of Unit 2-6 back up for inspection. 

"This is never gonna work," Cody muttered.

"A little faith, please?" Rex requested so quietly it was barely a whisper. They heard a whir of motors in the door as it began to slide open, and Rex moved to be the first to greet them. A bunch of the standard battle droids stood frozen with surprise at the unexpected sight. Their leading Sergeant reared backward.

"Clones!" It exclaimed. Rex couldn't resist. He leveled his blaster pistol at its face.

"_R_oger, _R_oger," he said snidely as he fired. The other four came out from the sides and followed him into the entry, which was cleared in a matter of seconds. 

"Permission to take point, sir?" Hevy asked eagerly. 

"_I'm _always first, kid." He owed it to his men to face exactly what they were facing even before they did.

"Considering that I'm the ranking officer here that's oddly true," Cody murmured, as if to himself. 

"Let's go." Up the stairs and into the control room. More droids. Mostly commando. Still not a match for flesh and blood. Good shots, though.

"Fives!" Echo.

"He's okay. Focus on the battle!" Cody, the voice of calm reason as always. 

One of the commandos took a swipe at Rex and he lost his balance, landing on the floor hard and barely managing to roll onto his knees before a vibrosword landed directly where his head had been a few moments before. Rex came up nimbly onto his feet, grabbed the droid at the base of the head, and smashed it onto the ground. There was the satisfying sound of sparking technology. 

When he looked up there seemed to be a bit of a squabble going on between Echo and Hevy, but he ignored it. His attention was focused on Fives; helmet off, his face was marked with tolerable pain. A nice slice made in the protective bodysuit just below the shoulder plate, but nothing a bit of bacta couldn't cure. He'd be fine. The trio of shinies gathered round the smoking remains of the commander of the droids while Rex checked for unseen reinforcements down a side passage and Cody checked the diagnostics of the operations terminal.

"Not so tough now, eh sparky?" Hevy crowed in satisfaction as he kicked the droid's inanimate metal body casing. 

"Get to the window," Cody commanded as Rex took his helmet off, returning to the group. The air was dry and smelled strongly of discharged blasterfire. "We've got more visitors."


	11. Risk

An obedient progression quickly raced up onto the observation deck of the outpost, lining up to see what was so important. After a bit of searching faint specks could be seen moving through the dark sky. 

"It looks like a Separatist fleet," Echo observed; his helmet had a built-on macrobinocular and he was making use of it. 

"They're mounting a full-scale invasion," Cody surmised, features alight with recognition.

"We've got to warn command," Rex stated. His tone was carefully tempered, but the glance Cody gave him showed that the Commander had heard the note of urgent worry behind the sentence. 

"Yessir," Echo acknowledged hurriedly as he slipped past them and stationed himself at the communications relay. He began pressing buttons and reading the data that had been spat back. After a few minutes he sighed and looked back up at them from where he was sitting.

"They've sabotaged the comm relay and hard-wired the all clear signal. Repairs will take time, and-"

"We haven't got time," Rex pointed out as Hevy diverted their attention back to the droid activity. 

"Oh, no..." An enemy ship was rapidly descending through the atmosphere and headed for the landing platform. It could hold _at least _two companies of droids when it wanted, and a tank to spare when it wasn't that packed.

"Well buddy-" Fives stated with a glance at Hevy and an underlying inflection of irony- "you always wanted to be on the front lines."

"Shut up Fives."

"We can't last long against that army of clankers," Cody observed resignedly. Rex had been thinking something over in his head, and he came to the finite decision when he saw the droids advancing forward. There wasn't much time.

"Then we'll destroy it instead," he suggested. The look of surprise registering on everyone's faces showed that they hadn't been expecting permission to destroy their own property, but Cody seemed to have grasped what he was playing at well enough. Echo spoke up from his position at the terminal.

"But, sir, our mission is to _defend _the outpost at any costs." The kid liked living by the handbook. Commendable, but not always practical. Rex made a mental note to work with him on that. 

"Gotta warn the Republic about the invasion," the Captain explained with a glance out the window. "They'll take notice when the all clear signal stops."

" ...So when they stop receiving our beacon they'll get the message something's wrong," Fives clarified. Rex nodded. 

"We'll need every thermal detonator in the building."

"Takes more than a few _detonators _to blow this outpost sir," Hevy informed. Cody arched an eyebrow that showed his concern at how far the rookie had thought through the process of blowing up his own base, but Hevy was saved from his criticism by Echo chiming in helpfully with an alternative explosive.

"What about the LT?" He asked. "The moon freezes for over half the year, so we use Liquid Tibanna as fuel to heat the base."

"Highly explosive," Cody remarked with approval. He looked to Rex for instruction, indicating that he was still the one taking point.

"Good. We'll bring the tanks here and then prime the detonators." It had all the makings of a plan, anyway. He had them gather round near the table where they'd discarded their helmets. "All right, listen up. There's only one target of interest in this sector and that's Kamino. We're fighting for more than the Republic today. We're fighting for our brothers back home. Is that understood?" 

The little speech had the desired effect. The three shinies raised their heads a little with pride as they acknowledged. 

"Sir, yes _sir!"_

"We need weapons from the armory, too. We haven't much time," Cody commented. 

"Echo and I will take care of the tanks while you handle that," Rex decided. "I'm going to station you at the entry for when the droids eventually get through. It'll buy the two of us time to prime the detonators."

"Solid strategy," Cody approved dismissively, which indicated that he had already anticipated that order.

"Then let's get on it." Rex and Echo continued on down the passage as the other three turned off into an adjacent room to get the LT, and the Captain cast a glance at his young subordinate as they went. His handprint had fully dried from a glossy blue into a rich navy on the kid's armor, and if he hadn't known better Rex would have thought that it was paint armor in 501st colors. 

As he guided the lift droid through the corridor Rex was suddenly struck by the realization that he considered these kids to be his men. They were young but eager, and their absolute faith in his command decisions- though not completely unquestioning- was something he wanted to live up to. They had courage and adaptability, and there was no reason for them not to be on the front lines shooting droids. They were ready. 

He'd been a shiny himself once, only two months ago. It felt longer. Geonosis was an unforgiving start to anyone's military career, but it had taught him valuable lessons. Now... it was his turn to pass those on to the new rookies coming into the fight. He was interrupted from his thoughts by Echo offering him the detonator to calibrate. 

"Here, sir."

"Thanks." Echo hovered nearby for a few uncertain moments before going to place more charges on the tanks themselves. Oh, yes. They were eager to please. But then again, weren't they all? 

There was a loud boom; blaster fire erupted in the passage and a few moments later Cody was barking at him over the comlink.

"_Rex, time's wasting!"_

"I'm almost ready," Rex reassured. He frowned as he fiddled with the detonator. "Handset isn't linking up..." As the rest of their explosive little party retreated back up the ramp he stood from the crouching posistion he had been in. "Heavy, this detonator isn't working."

"I'll take care of it," Hevy assured as it was handed to him. "It'll be fixed in no time. You guys get out of here." There was something about this situation that didn't sit well with Rex. He hesitated a moment before following the others toward the ventilation shaft. 

"Just make it fast," he said. "Those droids are getting close." The shaft was tight, and Cody accidentally grabbed his heels a few times as they crawled. No clone felt comfortable in small spaces, and Rex could only guess that it was a result of being grown in gestation pods instead of a mother's womb that gave them their issues with claustrophobia. 

The uninviting landscape of Rishi was a pleasant change after the little excursion, and though it was completely in his head Rex liked to think that it was easier to breathe out there. He was quickly followed by the others. They raced up the steep slope to get a safe but clear spot for visual, and there they paused. 

"Hevy, hit the-" it was a cold blow to the stomach when he glanced back and only counted three helmets. "Where's Hevy?" 

"I'm on it sir," Fives volunteered as he reached for his wristcomm. Rex's went off right at the exact same time. 

"Hevy, get out of there!" Rex ordered. He couldn't tell if he was cross or frightened, or if he was cross_ because _he was frightened. Hevy's voice crackled back to him.

"_The remote isn't working,_" he said. The resigned tone confirmed Rex's concerns. "_I'll have to detonate it manually."_

"Hevy..." Fives began, leaning forward and speaking warningly into Rex's comm. 

"We can't just leave him," Echo exclaimed. "We've gotta get back up there."

"Back to the maintenance pipe," Cody ordered. "Let's move."

_"It's no use. I know what I have to do."_ Definitely resigned to becoming a martyr.

"I don't like your tone rookie," Rex growled back as they took off back down the slope toward the shaft. He was internally kicking himself, heart hammering in his chest. He should have stayed and worked at the detonator himself. He should have made sure that Hevy had followed. He should have- 

It was like the memory of pain, something he hadn't ever experienced before. But his left hand started hurting all the same, badly enough that it began shaking and he had to adjust his grip on his blaster. No, self-blame wouldn't do anyone much good. Better to focus that energy on what was happening in the present. 

Rex tried the comm again as he ran.

"Soldier, come in. Are you there?" Nothing. There was a rising sense of time-sensitive panic now. "Soldier, come in. Respond!" Still nothing. "_Talk to us!" _The pipe was close. Fives drew ahead of them with long strides and practically face-planted into the tunnel with Echo tripping on his heels. A bright orange bloom, outlined by dark edges of smoke, blossomed above them as the ground shook underneath their feet. They flattened themselves against the rock face and watched as a huge chunk of the separatist ship went sailing into the abyss below.

"Hevy always _did _hate that place," Fives murmured. He sounded broken. They looked up as a LAAT/i made a triumphant appearance.

"Gunships," Cody announced unnecessarily. "We're getting off this crater, boys." One of the transports dipped low, hovering at the edge of the cliff they were on. They got in without need for encouragement, and it lifted off again. Before the blast doors closed and sealed to ascend out of the atmosphere and back into space they could see the extensive destruction of the base. One of the troopers- a man from Cody's group that Rex didn't know- cocked his head to the side. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but he soon voiced his thoughts. 

"Failing grade, huh?" He asked sarcastically. "When you decide to sort out the good from the bad you really don't mess around." Cody sighed.

"Not now, Sev." 

"Yessir. Sorry sir."

"I never want to see this place again," Echo muttered. "It took everything from us."

"Just you and me now," Fives murmured, subdued. 

"Only if the rest of the members of Torrent Company don't count," Rex said quietly. It was evident by their body language that the two shinies were surprised. 

"You really mean that, sir?" Fives asked.

"Yes." He glanced at Cody, who was most likely staring back based on the angle of his t-slit. "I really do."


	12. Readjustment

Rex watched Echo and Fives walk out of the hangar, the honor guard comprised of his five survivors and an assortment of men from the 212th folding in behind them to go about their regular activities. Well, for Cody's men, anyway... 

What remained of Torrent Company had caught up to their new additions and were chatting amiably with them. There wasn't much else to do other than get acquainted, not until the ranks were filled again. That was another problem in itself. Rex still wasn't comfortable with adding complete strangers into the mix, much less commanding them when he didn't know how they'd fare in battle. There was a solution to that, though.

"Ready to finish those inspections?" Cody asked tiredly. "Two more to go." 

"You'll have to go without me," Rex replied. "I'm taking a shuttle over to Kamino. I'd like to see my men in action before I'll lead them into battle."

"You won't be able to do that every single time you lose troops."

"I know, but this is different. I need to be able to command these people, Cody. And I need to know what they'll be capable of. A few unknowns I can handle if I put them in squads with experienced soldiers, but there are simply too many to replace this time. I don't have the luxury, and I don't want a repeat of Teth."

"You're really caught up about that, aren't you?" Cody observed. "Okay then. Next transport leaves in three minutes. Since you probably just decided you were going I'll be the one to inform General Skywalker."

"We need to spend less time together," Rex retorted sarcastically with a grateful smile at the Commander. "We're starting to anticipate each other's thoughts and actions." Cody shrugged.

"So what? I'm a firm believer in knowing my colleagues inside and out." Rex was halfway up the loading ramp of the transport when he leaned out one last time.

"Again, thank you."

"Don't mention it." The door rumbled closed, and Rex found himself walking through a cargo area with crates labeled 'medical supplies.' They were empty, so this was a restock mission. The pilot, nicknamed Joltz, turned to look at him in surprise as he sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"Wasn't expecting to have company on this ride," he said. 

"I'm going to look at the cadets," Rex explained. "I want to see them in action before I'll fight with them in a battle." 

"Smart plan. Learn the limits and get accurate expectations of their performance. I take it that you'll be heading back to the ship with them, then." 

"Yeah. Don't wait up when you get those supplies. The wounded need them desperately." 

"Will do." Joltz was as easy-going as they came, and Rex found himself enjoying the casual conversation about the bolo-ball scores while they waited for Kamino to clear them and allow them to land. Cargo droids trundled up the ramp as they disembarked; the pilot to grab a cup of caf and a hot meal and the Captain to request an audience with Jedi General Shaak Ti. Joltz paused before they went their separate ways.

"Hey, Captain?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

"Thanks." Rex turned into a pristine white corridor, letting his eyes become accustomed to the brightness. Everything was just as he remembered it: tidy, clinical, and pristinely efficient. He found himself becoming embarrassed at his armor. It was covered in a thin layer of soot and nicks, some of the paint needed a resealing coat as it began to flake, and there was powdery gravel in the tracks of his boots. Explosions and rock-climbing were dirty business. Judging by the looks the Kaminoans were shooting him as huge eyes stared down out of their arrogant flat faces in passing, they were thinking the same thing. 

Rex shook his head to clear it of the need to conform. War was messy, and not everyone could be pleased. On top of that, he didn't owe the fish-bait anything because of a scarring adolescence that developed a deep-seated and primal fear of disappearing because he wasn't their idea of perfection. It was all in the name of gene cleansing. Getting rid of bad stock. But as far as Rex was concerned, they were scientific murderers.

With that in mind he made sure to kick his boots in such a way that some of the gravel dislodged as he walked, leaving dirty footprints on the spotless white floors. It was petty, but it felt almost therapeutic all the same. As a cadet he would have been disciplined for "careless upkeep of equipment and person" which basically translated to the Kaminoan version of rebellion and anarchy. It was a liberating realization that they couldn't touch him now that he was an officer on active duty. Rex rotated his shoulder blades to settle the pauldron more comfortably in place, and some soot drifted through the air for good measure. 

General Shaak Ti wasn't anything at all like Rex had expected. As a member of the Jedi High Council he had imagined a stern elderly female with ramrod posture and an intimidating personality, but when he stepped into her office all he felt was peace. She was Togruta, like Ahsoka, but she was... delicately built. Dark blue stripes shone vividly on her lekku, two of which were thin and long and elegantly draped over her shoulders. Rich red skin seemed to accentuate the brightness of white on her person, and two intelligently kind light purple eyes regarded him curiously. She had been meditating.

"Welcome, Captain." Her voice was soft, and for the life of him Rex had trouble believing that she could evenly balance the role of both warrior and diplomat. Shaak Ti rose to a standing position, moving away from the circular meditative floor cushion and gliding toward him in one fluid movement with her robes whispering across the floor. Despite having to look down into her face Rex felt suddenly and inexplicably intimidated. This was a Jedi Knight from the legends of old. Mysterious in their mystic beliefs, artists in their fighting form, and altogether spell-binding in person. No, she hadn't been what he had expected at all.

"Ma'am," he said suddenly, coming to attention with his helmet smartly tucked under his left arm. "I'm honored you took the time to hear my petition."

Master Ti smiled.

"The honor is mine." A graceful dip of the head, a show of respect from a superior to their subordinate. She began moving toward the door and it was clear that he was to fall into step beside her. They continued talking as they walked. "I was intrigued by your request. Under the circumstances, it is logical for an effective leader to want to see their men in action before real battle. Commanding one of the most prestigious assault units in the army comes with a certain degree of performance required of its troops." 

"General Skywalker was of the same opinion sir," Rex replied. They were moving through familiar halls now, and the training pits were close. "He sends his regards."

"How thoughtful." It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or just benignly observant. A quick glance showed the smallest of smiles resting on her lips. She had a sense of humor after all. She turned into a room and Rex followed, realizing quite suddenly that this was an observation platform. The test going on at the moment was a series of drills that he was immensely familiar with. 

"I will admit that this group of cadets are... average," Shaak Ti stated. "Good times, perfect scores, but nothing of any real significance." Rex was studying the squad currently performing, his gaze flitting from man to man.

"I think I can fix that." He rummaged about in one of his belt pouches and pulled out a data spike. "Run one of these simulations next time. I've found that no-win scenarios show a person's true limit of potential." The Jedi arched an eyebrow but accepted the spike with a nod. 

"I imagine you find yourself in that type of situation quite often then." 

"Indeed I do."

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Fresh air hit Rex's skin as he peeled off his tight-fitting vacuum-safe bodysuit and stepped into a shower so hot the water hit his body and rolled off as steam. He probably would have fallen asleep under the jets if he hadn't kept in mind that the Kaminoans held a strict five minute maximum water time. He applied soap and was out in three, zipping up a set of trooper fatigues. For all intents and purposes they were exactly like the training set, but the color scheme was a deep and navy blue to show active duty instead of red. Depending on rank, an identifying set of insignia were handed out accordingly. Rex hesitated a few moments before deciding against wearing his. If he were to mingle with anyone his rank would put them ill-at ease. 

He had been assigned to a guest officer's barracks block for his stay. There were a couple other officers- mainly ARCs- staying there before returning to the battlefront as well. After his shower he grabbed a hot meal and took it back to the storage area, settling down to give his armor and bodysuit a thorough washing. He ate as he readjusted the software of the HUD in his helmet. It had to be done. 

Once the arduous task had been completed Rex stacked his equipment neatly in his allotted storage cabinet and walked to the ladder leading to the wall-embedded bunks. He had his hand on the lowest rung when he considered the tight, isolating space. It hadn't bothered him before, but it did now. He opted for opening his bunk and grabbing a sheet before making a home for himself against one of the walls. Ironically, the floor was more comfortable than he remembered the bunks being. 

There was a rustling sound and the noise of fabric being dragged across the ground; when Rex looked up he was staring into a face exactly like his as the Lieutenant paused to acknowledge him.

"You too, huh?" He asked. Rex shrugged.

"I need my space."

"Same." An ARC walked by and threw himself face-first downward, sprawling across the bench with one foot hanging off the edge. Rex smiled. At least he had company. The Lieutenant curled himself into a tight ball in an alcove and was immediately asleep, his breathing light and shallow. For a few moments Rex was worried that he was slowly being asphyxiated by an invisible choking hazard, but then the snoring began and it was impossible to shut him up. Rex nestled deeper into the nest he had built and settled in for a long night. 


	13. Recruits

Kamino was utterly predictable in its routine. Nothing ever changed, and Rex doubted that anything ever would. Kaminoans were oddly traditional in their ongoing quest toward perfection. 

"So what brings you here?" Rex looked up from the basin to see one of the ARCs setting up shop in a sink next to him. He took a moment to finish a pass with his razor before replying.

"501st, Torrent Company. Putting together the new group."

"I heard Teth was a massacre," the ARC replied sympathetically. 

"It was." Rex returned to the stubble on his jawline. 

"I'm Colt, by the way. I head up the security for Tipoca City. Not the mouth-breather. That was Wesson." He took a swift swipe of the razor over his scalp, taking off any new growth. "You got any questions about the latest batch feel free to ask. Some of them are outstanding. Others... not so much. I can point you in the right direction."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Excessive face-rubbing was the only possible response to the average display of ability that he had seen today. There was quiet, clear efficiency. All precise, all orderly. Each squad had performed to their utmost capabilities... And every single one had failed the no-win scenario. Rex wasn't sure what he'd expected; it wasn't as if basic training inspired stunning acts of self-sacrifice and individuality. 

"Trouble?" He looked up to see Shaak Ti walking toward him on the rain-lashed platform. "This isn't the type of weather for sight-seeing."

"I used to come here when I needed to be alone," he murmured pointedly. She nodded in understanding. He hesitated a few moments before asking something, thinking back to his own training. "What were Fives, Echo, and Hevy's squad like as cadets?" Master Ti smiled. 

"They were the most disorganized, uncooperative, and difficult soldiers I've trained yet." 

"Sounds familiar."

"Your own squad was the same?"

"Begging your pardon General, but you don't know the half of it. It's amazing any- especially all- of us made it to the rank of trooper in one piece with our sanity intact. We drove each other nuts." 

"I believe it is adversity that makes for a stronger character," Ti replied carefully as she drew her hood up to shield her face from the ironclad wind. "And the unconventional that thrives in unpredictability." 

"So you're saying I should test the squads that haven't gotten passing marks," Rex summarized slowly.

"I'm saying you should trust your instincts. And if that's what they're telling you, then yes. I suppose I am. Now, are you going to accompany me inside, or are you going to continue to drown out here?" 

"Well when you put it that way..." he followed her back into the dry warmth of Tipoca City and there they parted ways, each leaving a trail of wet footprints behind them. Rex headed back toward the barracks, and as he rounded a corner something large and heavy charged into his torso with all the force of a battering ram. 

Instinctively he went limp; latching on to his assailant and dragging them both down onto the ground, he flipped at the last moment so that he landed on top in a prime position to finish anything before it started. The movement was so deeply ingrained into him that the startled cadet was pinned to the floor staring up at him in surprise before he'd had time to register what was happening. 

"Whoa whoa whoa!" This kid was greener than the newest shiny. He struggled under Rex, but couldn't break free. Quickly he went limp. "Sorry for the collision, though I'm wondering if I'm saying sorry to myself or to you..."

"Reflex," Rex stated apologetically as he pulled the cadet to his feet. The younger man brushed his red fatigues off with a wary glance at the graduated trooper.

"No kidding. A life-saver, that technique?"

"More than once."

"I prefer to be far enough away to enjoy a nice big bang over close combat, but hey, that's my preference." The cadet shrugged, a cheeky smile lighting up his features. "I'm Hardcase, by the way. I enjoy tropical climates, sleeping until _after_ dawn, and well-crafted explosions. You?" 

"Rex." 

"Not really a talker, are you? More of a man of action. That's fine by me. Helmet off to anybody who goes in and gets things done."

"Which squad are you in again?" Rex asked wearily. 

"The Nexxus, sir."

"Nexxus... isn't that one of the failing ones?"

"Yessir. Best of the worst and all that," Hardcase responded enthusiastically. He wasn't even a touch ashamed. They both involuntarily stood at attention as a soft chiming alarm went off, indicating a new shift in the daily regime. All of Kamino revolved around it. "Well, I've got a triage session in a few minutes so I'll be seeing you. Maybe. Bye." 

Rex watched him scamper off and debated on whether the necessity of having eccentric troopers in Torrent Company would outweigh his wanting of less tiresome charges, finally reasoning that they would mellow with experience. At least, he _hoped _they would... not that Brye was a good indicator of that ever happening. Curious, Rex followed Hardcase down the corridor and kept going past the training area to an archive terminal. He activated it and began scrolling through the data, looking for one thing in particular. When he found it he let out a slight 'ah' of satisfaction.

"Time to see if my suspicions were correct..."

Training squads were together since birth. They trained together, they slept together, they were conditioned to _think _together. But near the end of training they employed live-fire rounds into exercises. Accidents were common, people died, and squads were reformed into new units. They weren't exactly _cohesive. _With that in mind, Rex looked up the list of current competing squads and set it to line up with reforms; Most of the failing teams were a mix of dissolved units. Echo and Fives' squad had been that way, too. 

It made sense. Every unit operated and functioned differently from the rest. Each was unique, and yet the Kaminoans, in that single-minded business professionalism, had reacted as if they were droids and had the gall to be surprised when things went to Mustafar. Rex shook his head to clear it of such thoughts, but try as he might the more he saw of the galaxy the more he hated the fish-faces. And yet...

And yet there was a spark from that tension that seemed to inspire individuality, a quality that Rex sorely needed in his men. Now, if he could just inspire teamwork as well, he'd have the perfect candidates to rebuild his company almost from scratch. And there was an easy way to do that...

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"A-tenn-_shun!"_ The cadets snapped to quicker than the word 'knife' could be spoken, following him as he paced back and forth with their eyes only. Rex paused to look them over, his armor appearing singed and chipped in comparison to their spotless plates despite being freshly painted and cleaned. He shifted his helmet to his left arm so that his right was free, noting that his audience followed the movement. They seemed fixated on his bucket; even in the regular corps the Mandalorian Jaig Eyes were a sign of veteran skill and bravery that went above and beyond the call of duty. He wasn't sure how they'd react if he told them that he'd earned them on Geonosis by one of the Cuy'val dar. 

When he was certain he had their undivided attention Rex got on with the summons, raising his voice so that it carried clearly to the very back of the room. 

"Take a good look at the men standing next to you," he began. "Because when you ship out you might never see them again. Everyone in this room has experienced loss. Each of you might think that no one else knows how that feels." He paused, swallowing to keep his voice steady. 

"But they do. _I _do. All of us know how it feels to lose brothers. Now this is war. And we're going to lose a lot more before it's over. That's the price that's paid, pure and simple. It's high and it always has been. But here, right now, is the last test you'll have before graduation. Independence is a good thing. Just remember that you're not the only one out there. You might have lost your brothers, but you've got new ones to look out for. We're a pretty big family. If we don't help one another then who will? Do you understand?" 

A voice piped up from the back, echoing to the front.

"Sir, let us show you what we've got!" The entire room burst out into like-minded verifications and Rex had to wait a few moments for quiet. 

"Okay then, impress me. Dis-_mi_ssed!" The space echoed with one hundred pairs of boots clicking together as the squads filed out, and Rex went to watch them in the observation balcony with Master Shaak Ti. It was merely a polite nothing, because they'd already experienced one of the most brutal lessons the war had to teach to them. And they all performed admirably. 

Rex paused at the foot of the loading ramp, glancing at the snow-white plating of his newest men. Technically, the new Torrent Company. There weren't enough of the "Old Guard" left to delude himself by thinking that these were replacements. He debated for a few moments over something before going over and speaking to ARC Trooper Colt.

"I know you take requests from officers for what types of cadets they want..." he began. Colt chuckled.

"Yeah, well you'll have to get in line. I've got plenty of commanders asking for the best and the brightest of the bunch, and to play fair I've gotta spread the talent around." The comment made Rex smile.

"Well then this should make your life easy. I don't _want _the best and brightest." There was a certain amount of satisfaction to be gained from the ARC's surprised expression.

"No?"

"Nah. I'll take the ones who have difficulty in conforming that get decent marks any day."

" ...Okay. Can't say that I think it's an effective strategy but it makes my life a little easier, so..."

"Thanks. See you later, Colt."

"I'll keep an eye out." Rex boarded his shuttle and began fiddling with a datapad as the ramp shuddered closed, and he noted the quietness in the hold. He looked up at the nervous graduates shuffling from foot to foot, unsure of what they should do now that they were troopers. He smiled again, one of his small sad ones.

"At ease, before med bay has to prepare for an epidemic of sprains onboard ship," he ordered sarcastically. 


	14. Demons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY SEASON SEVEN PREMIER!

The new recruits were fitting in well, Rex thought as he moved through the ship. Once the territorial bunk claims had been made in the barracks things had settled down to a routine lull period where they felt comfortable enough to spend time together but still foreign enough that the entire room was occupied by an awkward silence. His men were purposefully ignoring each other at the moment, every single one occupied with calibrating both weapon and armor systems. They'd continue to bond over the next few days, and since they were in an isolated area of space doing a work up of the cruiser Rex wasn't worried about an unexpected rescue mission. 

He was more concerned about the General, if he was being honest with himself. After Kenobi and the 212th had departed to take care of their own problems Anakin had let the durasteel façade drop away. Externally- and from the way his former master had acted obliviously around him it was in his very soul- a defensive barrier had been erected to give the illusion of calm. Rex wasn't Force-sensitive, but he decided that was a plus since he didn't rely on empathic cues to figure out how people were feeling. Skywalker's body language said 'pain' like a bright advertisement sign, flashing with each avertment from eye contact and shift of balance in the feet. He'd especially been avoiding getting caught alone with Rex in particular, but the captain figured it was time to corner him in a turbolift at some point and get things sorted out. 

That was how he ended up heading for the bridge with an extremely self-conscious Jedi as a companion. Neither spoke for a few moments, and then Rex pulled the emergency stop. He knew that the EMT* would be on him for it, but he was prepared to take the verbal beating. 

It was so quiet in the lift that he could hear his own pulse. Skywalker swallowed and Rex waited for him to speak first.

"So."

"Sir."

"Why are we stopping?"

"I believe you know exactly why, sir." 

" ...I really don't." 

"Load of Ronto dung. Sir." Anakin finally rounded on him, blue eyes bright and face red with anger. It was explosive and quite unlike a Jedi should behave, and he seemed to know it by the way he struggled to keep his tremulous voice level. 

"What do you want me to say? That it was my own stupid arrogance that led me to think that we'd secured the monastery without the fight we'd anticipated? That I should have known it was too easy? Or that I got them all killed? Maybe that I just _abandoned _you and left for the Hutt-end of the galaxy." He began pacing, and Rex shifted to the side to give him room in the small space. 

"...Literally. I should have considered other alternatives. There's always another way. But I wasn't suspicious. I didn't look deep enough into the water to see the eel waiting to eat me. It was novice. What does the Council expect of me? I'm not a good role model for Ahsoka. Blast, I'm not even a good role model for myself. She'd learn better from _Artoo_ than she would from me. Anyone who gets close to me gets killed. I'm not fit to be a Master. Or a General. Because I behaved like a Padawan I lost an entire Company."

"Not entirely, sir." Skywalker froze, turning to look at Rex. His eyes were swimming with guilt.

"I don't-"

"There's still six of us alive and breathing. You didn't lose an entire Company. We walked straight into a trap. You had no other alternatives, and you did the best you could to salvage the situation and get us all back home." Anakin's expression was like a solid wall of astonishment.

"You aren't- you aren't mad at me?" He rasped.

"If you're picking any negative vibes up from me it's all self-abuse. I was the commander in charge. But there wasn't anything I could do either, and believe me when I say that I've gone back over the scenario in my head at least a thousand times already." Rex fixed his gaze on the dent in the wall. Someone had cleaned the blood but hadn't flattened out the paneling. He trailed the fingers of his left hand down into the curve gently, voice becoming quiet and reflective.

"The harshest abuse a man can be made to endure comes at the hands of his own demons," he murmured. Anakin followed his gaze, but it was clear that he hadn't made the connection between the dented turbolift and Rex's brief foray into self-harm.

"That sounds like a Jedi proverb," he remarked.

"Mandalorian, actually." Rex repeated the words in their original tongue for emphasis. "Tabarade mruevr jag tecara olaror yu ka'r be tie paba dasu'r." 

"I had no idea you were such an enthusiast. You're not one of the Mando fanatics that give the brass concern about going native, are you?" It sounded like a poor attempt at humor, but Rex played along and indulged it.

"The Commandos are the fanatics, sir. Regular infantry mostly learn the songs and grasp the basic concepts of clan, but anyone who went through the Alpha program ended up assimilating the language and culture whether they wanted to or not." A pause. Then a chuckle. "Unless you're Cody. I mentioned something to him the other day and he just gave me a blank stare. I'm ninety percent certain he's repressed the entire cultural experience. It doesn't fit in with his idea of perfect military efficiency." 

Skywalker managed a faint smile.

"How do you cope with this?" He asked quietly. "They were the men under my command, but they were your brothers."

"Sometimes I don't," Rex answered. "But it was what we were bred for. Engineered to fight and, if necessary, to die so that others don't have to." 

"I don't sense any resentment from the ranks about it," Anakin commented tactfully. Rex didn't understand why he was so sensitive on the issue. 

"Why would there be?" He asked, confused. "We wouldn't even be here if not for the war. What else is there for us?" The General said nothing, and after a few moments he started the elevator back up again. 

"It just sounds a lot like slavery to me," he murmured quietly before stepping out onto the bridge. Rex froze in his tracks before regaining his composure and following. He had never made the connection before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EMT = Emergency Maneuvers Team


	15. Civilian

"I'm just saying. I think it would do Mr. Rules and Regulations good if you were to swap commands with him for a week. It's not like he isn't familiar with us and you with his men. We certainly see enough of each other." Rex sighed in exasperation, shaking his head and failing to hide a smile. Brye was one of the few people he could truly relax with, and such moments were precious.

"Brye, I value my commission too much to do that." Brye arched an exotic eyebrow, and the bleach blond stripes he'd only recently put into the dark line seemed to make the movement more dramatic.

"I don't follow. What's the worst that could happen?" Rex reached over and flicked a strand of the man's hair out of his face without even thinking about it. 

"You do realize that, by the end of this hypothetical week, Cody would snap and try his very best to mark an early retirement for Skywalker, don't you?"

"I thought you were going to say that you and Kenobi wouldn't get on," Brye laughed. "But now you mention it I could definitely see our fearless leader driving the Commander stark-raving crazy."

"It doesn't bear much thinking about. I've got enough nightmares to interrupt my sleep without adding that one into the mix."

"And what are some of the others, exactly?"

"Well there was one about Ahsoka and the General getting trapped in a turbolift together, but most of them have to do with you and your shenanigans." Rex flicked the hair away again. "Get a haircut, will you?" 

"There are some things even a commanding officer isn't qualified to demand of their subordinates, Rexie."

"I'm _very _handy with a vibroblade." Cody rounded a corner and they side-stepped each other with the practiced ease of dance choreography. He regarded Brye quizzically for a few moments before turning back to Rex.

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

"Let's get a second opinion," Brye suggested haughtily to the captain. "Com, is this within the guidelines of regulation length?" He held his hair straight, the bleached locks ending just above his chin.

"Yes, but-"

"See? Nothing needs to be done. Keep your knives to yourself."

"Are you sure about those eyebrows?" Cody asked dubiously. He was used to Brye's complete disregard for protocols and didn't even bat an eye. Brye shrugged.

"Still in Beta testing, if I'm being honest."

" ...Right..." The Sergeant followed them unapologetically onto the bridge, even though it wasn't something most troopers under the rank of Lieutenant would have even considered. He broke into a wide smile when he saw Ahsoka chatting with Yularen.

"Hey there, Commander. Any interesting developments?" Ahsoka smiled back, leaning against a tactical display and crossing her arms.

"Still fuming about being left on the ship like a kid while mum and dad explore the planet?" 

"Who's who?"

"Kenobi's a proper space-dad," Cody reasoned. Rex arched an eyebrow and indulged himself by playing along.

"Skywalker's definitely not a mom. More like the crazy uncle that bails you out of prison."

"I'm a little scared by how accurate that analogy is," Ahsoka chuckled. Brye smirked, pretending to act offended and failing.

"I'm not a child."

"Brye, you're _literally _ten years old."

"Aren't we all, Rexie? Anyway, who's our babysitter then?"

"Me," Yularen cut in with the faintest trace of an indulgent smile. "Pardon me Padawan Tano, but we're receiving an update from Master Kenobi." 

"Put him through then." They gathered about the holo-projector as a miniature blue image of Obi-wan flickered into life. The smile on Cody's face abruptly dropped, and it was obvious that he had spotted something no one else had.

"Is everything all right, sir? You look a little peaked." Rex took a second glance and realized that Cody was right. Even in the blue light of the holo Kenobi's skin was unnaturally pale, and it appeared as if all the blood had drained from his face. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, crossing and uncrossing his arms.

_"We've got a bit of a situation here,"_ he said. _"Senator Amidala and Representative Binks have gone missing, and we've got a potential outbreak of the Blue Shadow Virus down here."_ Cody and Rex exchanged a blank glance, but the Admiral's and Ahsoka's reactions were strongly negative.

"But- but I thought it was supposed to be gone. _Forever._ Erased from existence," Ahsoka exclaimed. 

_"Apparently it's back."_

"Sir, what's the Blue Shadow Virus?" Rex asked. 

_"It was a plague that ravaged the galaxy some thirty years ago. It survived in water, and killed billions. No species were immune, and there was no cure. The Republic put together its best scientists to eradicate it. If the Separatists have somehow found a way to bring it back then supply shortage will be the least of our worries." _

"Are we intervening?" Cody asked tactfully. With most planets he wouldn't have asked, but Naboo had a strong military presence in the Gungan population and any outside help might have been construed as seeing them as weak. Kenobi's image shuddered again, and the audio crackled.

_"Both the Naboo and the Gungans actually _requested _we help, which makes things far easier as the projected area of the Separatist base is within the swampland."_

"What does that have to do with it?" Ahsoka asked curiously, a Padawan still trying dutifully to learn her diplomatic duties when most everyone she met wanted to blow her brains out. 

"It's contested territory," Rex explained indulgingly. 

"Ah." 

_"Yes. Ahsoka, you will accompany Anakin and I when we travel to the royal palace. Our meeting with the Gungans has completed. Admiral, if you could start the beginnings of a blockade against all incoming craft I would be grateful."_

"Shall I get the gunships ready?" Cody asked. Obi-wan shook his head.

_"Only the 501st and bomb squad will be going down. I need the entirety of the 212th on the cruisers in case we have to quarantine the planet."_

"Looks like you'll be sitting this one out then," Brye said with a smile. He'd recognized that they were going to get down to tactics and made a considerate exit as casually as possible. "I'll round the guys up for you."

"Thanks, Sergeant." Rex acknowledged and then ignored. "How many teams, General?"

_"Hmm... I'd say about five, not including bomb squad."_ He seemed to be looking at something out of focus, stroking his beard in thought. _"I'll see you soon."_

The image flickered once, twice, then dissolved into the air. Rex worked out a few final arrangements with Yularen and Cody, and then he and Ahsoka boarded a gunship and headed for the planet's surface. 

Naboo was like a watery emerald from orbit; it was all beautifully blue, white, and varying green marbled colors. As soon as they got into the atmosphere and it was possible to breathe the pilot eased open the blast doors, revealing a cool if slightly moist climate full of the smell of living things. The sound of nature found its way to them even over the drives of the LAAT/i. They all had their buckets off to take in the full scale of it, and they stared. After the perpetual rainstorm of sea-faring Kamino, the dry dust and barrenness of Tatooine, the icy caverns of Orto Plutonia, and the open grassland of Maridun it was easy to think that they'd seen it all. They weren't even close. Even Ahsoka, who had been exposed to far more diversity of planets in her career as a Jedi Youngling, stared at their surroundings with astonishment. The place was stunning. 

Gungans shied away from the roar of the gunship as it touched down to let Ahsoka leap out into one of their few surface cities, and she chased after the two Knights as they boarded their own transport. They were to head for the palace to speak with the queen, but Rex and the troops were going to set up a staging ground at the academy compound for their security personnel. It was well-equipped to handle the sudden in-rush of military and also had enough armaments to take out a fortified bunker. 

They lifted off again and Ahsoka caught his eye before they separated, giving a little wave. He touched off two fingers at the side of his head in an informal salute in response. 

The academy wasn't anything they had been expecting. While Rex conceded that he had been stereotyping such places into the familiar memory of clinical Tipoca City, he still had not been prepared for the Nabooian capital of Theed. It was spread on the edge of a slightly declining cliff side with numerous lakes and thick rivers at the bottom; conduits of water had been carved out of the golden stone to provide canals. It was all very elegant and natural-looking, with creeping vines blooming pleasant-smelling flowers all over the place. Green gardens and the musical trickle of fountains were scattered with deliberate artful yet unpatterned care, and the royal palace occupied the edge of the cliff side with the waterfalls falling down on either side of it at the end of a long and open courtyard. The academy followed the same design as the rest of the city where it was nestled close to the palace but just far enough away to give the illusion of separateness. The drill yard where they touched down looked more like a terrace designed to hold galas than a place to fire weapons. 

Rex felt suitably out of place and under-dressed as he went to meet the Superintendent of the facility, and he could tell that his men felt the same. Even the uniforms of the trainees and their instructors were almost regal without trying to be, and the cadets paused to stare at them with wide and varied eyes out of young faces completely unique to each individual. 

While he waited for 'the man in charge' to show up a young girl made her way cautiously over to him, and Rex found himself staring down into bright green orbs and shiny blond hair. She stood smartly at attention, but in the way that reminded him of the youngest cadets still trying to get the hang of the soldier's ramrod posture. She was also far smaller than the other kids in the complex and wore no uniform, so he assumed she wasn't a student.

"Hi. I'm Ilaria."

" ...Hi." 

"You're an officer."

"Yes, I am. A Captain," Rex replied stiffly.

"Are you looking for my daddy?"

"Is he the Superintendent?" 

"Mmhm. I know where he is if you don't want to wait."

"That's very kind of you," Rex said politely. Ilaria beamed. She scampered off down a corridor open to a garden and he followed, uncomfortable at the entire situation. Suddenly she stopped and looked at him, cocking her head in curiosity. The movement was so utterly disarming that if she had pulled a knife on him Rex wouldn't have minded which artery she chose to slit so long as she kept smiling while she did it. The feeling was entirely new to him and unprecedented yet instinctual, and it scared him how easily it made him let down his defenses. 

Ilaria moved closer, too close, and he took an involuntary step back. She kept staring at his face with that vivid attention.

"You all look the same," she observed. 

"We're clones," Rex explained. "We're identical."

"Is that your species?" _Ouch. _Children had a way of making innocent assumptions that still had the tendency to hurt.

"No, I'm human."

"Then what's a clone?"

"A clone is... well, me, but I guess you could say that there are a bunch of other... mes." Ilaria began walking again, trailing her fingers over the stone wall. He kept pace.

"I don't get it."

"Oh, okay. Well, here's a better example then. Imagine if there were two of you. And this other person looked and sounded exactly like you did."

"Like a twin?" 

"Uh- yeah, sure. So this other person looks and sounds exactly like you, but they have different experiences and they don't think the same way you do."

"An identical twin."

"Sure. Now imagine that there are a lot more than one. Say, an _army _of them."

"An army of twins?" Rex sighed.

"Eh, forget it ad'ika. Ask your father when you're older." 

"I'm not a baby. I'm ten." Rex stopped walking for a fraction of a second, the weight of that finally settling in for him.

" ...Me too, kid."


	16. Shadows

Echo leaned as far out of the gunship as he dared, helmet tilted downward. Rex knew that behind the t-slit his eyes were flitting madly back and forth, trying to take in as much of the landscape as possible. The captain tugged gently on his shoulder plate, and he backed in. 

"Sorry, sir."

"That's okay. Just keep in mind where the edge is next time." His armor still looked quite new despite the rough treatment it had seen, the navy markings he'd added vibrant and recent. It was a unique insight into his character that he had left Rex's eel blood handprint on the chest plate, and also that he had painted his armor in the exact same shade. He was orderly yet sentimental.

Fives shoved his way through a knot of shinies to stand beside them, the bracing of his shoulders indicating that he was annoyed. Rex smiled at his over-protective tendencies and decided to let them bicker it out without him. Petty fighting was one of he many ways to steel oneself up before a battle, and they were due to drop down into the facility at any moment. 

The gunship began slowing and Rex took a deep, steadying breath. 

"Ready cables," he ordered. Men on both sides of the gunship took out the skeins and let them unravel, securing the clasps to the deck and letting the length flow out into long lines that drifted underneath the larty. A bright explosion bloomed unnaturally below, and they cruised to a neat stop about the now-gaping hole in he ground.

"Let's go, boys!"

"But I forgot to top up my vaccines!" Denal protested.

"Don't worry, this guy's a doctor. I'm sure he'll find time to see you!" Brye laughed as he jumped off the edge of the transport and latched on to a line. 

"One of these days I'm gonna haul off and smack him one," Ailen muttered sourly as he followed. 

"Cut the chatter," Rex chastised as he swung out on a line. "We're on a tight schedule with this one." 

"I have visual on bomb squad," Fives said. He was already in the lab. "And- oh, I found the Commander if anyone was looking for her." Rex felt the force of impact travel up his shins as he landed on a piece of debris, and he moved toward the thickest of the fighting. He switched to a different internal frequency." 

"Jesse, SitRep. How's your team doing in retrieving the good doctor?"

"_Skywalker took the time to save the Senator so we're a bit behind schedule_." There was a slight pause. "_In all honesty sir, I think the general's a bit sweet on her. And before you say anything, yeah yeah I know. Neither the time nor the place nor is it any of my business. Meet up soon. Jesse out_." Rex sighed slightly at the unnecessary complication in his life and ducked at the precise moment Ahsoka went vaulting over his head.

"Miss me?" She asked cheekily. 

"Well, it kind of _is _my job to back you up when you go looking for trouble." The Togruta swung her lightsaber in an upward motion with that unique backhanded grip she was so fond of utilizing, her hunter's reflexes admirably twirling the hilt with brandished flair as it smacked back into her fingers. She smiled at the accomplishment, revealing two rows of sharp carnivorous back teeth that rarely saw the light of day unless she was buoyed up on the adrenaline of combat. She had a habit of baring them then. 

"Aww. And here I thought it was my winning personality and seductive charm."

"Are you _flirting _with me?" 

"My Master's a bad influence." 

"Hey lovebirds, got some Rollies on the way."

"Shut up Brye." They came up against heavy resistance and Rex let Ahsoka take the front to deflect the worst of the fire. She suddenly darted farther into the corridor, and they followed. 

"Forward, come on!" He ordered. Two Droidekas came barreling down the hall towards them, throwing up an impenetrable wall of shields. Ahsoka growled.

"Fall back!" They started a slow backtracking movement and holed up behind some fallen debris. 

"I _told _you there were Rollies, but _no_..."

"_Brye. _Shut. _Up." _

"Why does the Captain get all the fun?" Fives complained. 

"You all have my express and unrequited permission to tell him to stuff it whenever you please."

"Sir yes _sir._" Ailen seemed a little too enthusiastic about it.

"I can't hold them off forever!" Ahsoka warned. There was a lull in the battle as the tunnel began to quake, and suddenly the portion in the ceiling above the droids caved in throwing dust everywhere. When it cleared General Kenobi was standing on top of a slab of collapsed durasteel with a smirk.

"Need help?" He asked as Bomb Squad dropped down behind him. "Don't mind us. We just took a shortcut."

"It is _so good _to see you Master Kenobi," Ahsoka sighed in relief. "What's our status?"

"Things are going well. The lab's secure, and with any luck Anakin's reached Padmé by now." More droids spilled out in an adjacent passage. "I'll get the bombs."

"I'll keep our new friends occupied!" 

"Any specific way you want to go about that, Com?" Rex asked. The entirety of the Company had accidentally adopted Brye's bad habit of using the shorthand version of 'Commander' both on and off the field. He mentally kicked himself for using it. Ahsoka shook her head.

"Knock yourselves out."

"Can I use the flamethrower?" Ailen asked. 

"Everyone except Ailen." There was an exasperated sigh. 

"There really aren't that many left anyway," Echo pointed out. He drove it home by blasting a droid at point-blank range. They cleared the area and then began running down the corridor. 

"Why do you even _have_ a flamethrower with you?" Fives asked.

"To burn the pathogen," Ailen retorted as if it were the most obvious thing in the galaxy. 

"Any excuse to go to a barbecue..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Ahsoka's wrist-com began chirping. She told them to shut up before answering. 

"Yes?"

_"Snips, we've got a situation. Send all the clones to search the facility." _Rex thought he heard an echo for some reason. "_We've got a miss-" _

They came out into a junction and unexpectedly met up with Skywalker's team. So _that_ was the reason for the echo...

"Master?" Ahsoka asked, surprised. 

"We've got a missing bomb, and a trigger-happy mad doctor on the loose." Well, if _that _wasn't a reason for any sane person to panic Rex didn't know what was. 

"A missing bomb?" The Senator asked. She seemed oddly at ease with the situation. The Gungan, on the other hand, simply looked unaware. "I saw Doctor Vindi give a little droid a bomb." 

"Split up," Anakin said. "Find that bomb." The whole time he'd been speaking he hadn't taken his eyes off of Padmé Amidala, and Rex was reminded of Jesse's earlier comment.

"You heard him!" Ahsoka snapped, startling him out of his reveries. "Let's move!" They took off down a different corridor in search of their quarry, and it was a fruitless few minutes wasted until their comms went off with a warbling distress beep.

"What's that?" Echo asked. 

"It's a Senate distress beacon," Ahsoka replied with a frown. "Padmé must have found something." 

"_Ahsoka, I've got the last bomb."_

_"_I'll get the bomb squad," she replied, then turned to Rex. "So I'm guessing you're already on that."

"They'll meet us in the chamber," Rex assured. By the time they got there one of the bomb squad had already arrived. He was working feverishly at the device, which didn't bode well. 

"This one's wired differently than the others," he explained without turning away from the explosive. Rex felt sweat break out on his forehead and at the nape of his neck, and he took his helmet off to wipe it away. The room itself was humid and _hot. _The conditions didn't improve as the timer continued counting down. An odd feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He was literally watching the last few seconds of his life ticking away. It was a surreal experience. 

The ticking suddenly stopped with a snap of pliers. 

"Deactivated," the demolitions trooper announced. His voice sounded a little more high-pitched than it usually would have. "And plenty of time to spare." Rex let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and felt a weakness in the knees. His hands were trembling slightly as he came down off of the adrenaline.

"Plenty of- oooh." He heard a thud and watched Jar Jar faint in what felt like slow motion. A comlink chirped.

"_Ahsoka. Are you there?" _Skywalker asked. She answered it, looking immensely drained.

"Right here, Master. The bomb's been deactivated. Find Vindi?" 

_"Deactivated as well. Have you seen Padmé?" _The Senator and the Padawan exchanged an exasperated glance.

"She's right next to me," Ahsoka replied sarcastically. "I'm fine too. Thanks for asking." The comlink went dead. 

"He means well," Amidala sighed. Ahsoka flashed her a smile. 

"I know. He's just so single-minded about it." The Senator shrugged.

"It's a guy thing."

"Hey!" Rex protested good-naturedly. Ahsoka laughed. 

"No offense, Rexter." Denal glanced at Representative Binks and sighed. 

"We're gonna have to move him, aren't we?" 

"Fraid so," Rex answered. He wasn't looking forward to it either. Still, the mission was complete and nothing had gone wrong, so he didn't have much to complain about. It had been a success in his book. 


	17. Virus I

White strobe lights flickered annoyingly through the complex, and Rex looked up uneasily from the datapad he had been combing for sensitive information. Everyone in the room froze. 

"That's not good," Denal stated unnecessarily.

"We'd better find that droid before it makes off with the virus," Rex sighed. And things had been going so well, too... "Come on. Dot, Fourix. Go check the bomb chamber."

"On it, Captain." They took off and the rest of the present group began fanning out into the corridors. A few minutes later the entire complex shuddered and a deep rumbling sound echoed through the halls. The white strobes and soft warning claxon were immediately replaced by a shrill wailing siren and flashing red lights. 

Rex came to a skidding stop and Ahsoka turned back to look at him. 

"Virus leak," he muttered. "Get to the safe room. Come on!" They took off down the passage with what appeared to be exploding deep blue mist on their heels, the doors on either side battening down to seal off the rooms.

"There's the safe room!" Ailen shouted.

"No chance!" Denal panted. He was nearer the back of the group and closest to the virus. 

"Hurry, the door's closing," Rex ordered. They had to slow to a stop when they got to the door, because it was mostly shut. Naturally, they were surprised when it jammed.

"Don't worry about it!" Ahsoka huffed. It was taking her a lot of effort to hold the mechanics open. 

"Commander..." Rex began, but trailed off. Her gaze was steady.

"Get your men inside, Captain." They slipped through the crack and did their best to help keep it open once on the other side, but the door was slowly forcing the slit smaller. 

"Hurry!" Brye snapped at a couple of stragglers. When they were all accounted for Rex felt the door suddenly become incredibly heavy, and Ahsoka vaulted through the small space just before it snapped closed with an echoing bang. Rex jerked away from the scrap of virus which had followed her in, holding his breath on reflex until he had got a good distance away from it. 

_"Ahsoka, what's going on down there?_" Anakin questioned urgently, voice crackling over the comm. The Togruta took a steadying breath and replied, but her pupils were still wide and dilated. 

"Droids set off a bomb and released the virus, but we managed to seal the lab."

"_And Padmé?_" She looked up into Rex's t-slit and he shrugged. 

"Haven't heard from her." There was a long, crackling silence and an occasional beep, which meant that they were on hold because Skywalker was talking to someone else. The line went dead. 

"Guess we're on our own," Echo sighed. 

"I don't know," Fives replied. "General was probably getting an update from the Senator." 

"Fan out and check the stores," Rex ordered mildly. Like him, his men were under stress and would be looking for something to do. A quiet wailing noise began issuing from a console at the far end of the room, and Denal went to investigate. He slammed his fists down and swore. Rex felt sweat break out on his forehead. Denal was usually much more reserved than that. 

"No no no nononononono-"

"What's wrong?" Ahsoka asked. She and Rex made their way over to him. 

"Some of the virus got in here. We didn't close the door fast enough!" Rex took a deep, calming breath and braced his hands on his hips. He needed that extra support at the moment. 

"We may be dead men, but we can still stop those droids." There were slight, hesitant nods from his men. It was surreal to be told you were already a corpse when you were still breathing. Ahsoka nudged him lightly in the chest plate, catching him off-guard. 

"Don't worry. Skyguy'll find a cure for this virus, and we're not dead yet." He didn't have the heart to remind her that the Republic was using a clone army for all of the best expendable reasons, and that being a Padawan didn't make the chances of a rescue much higher. His own subconscious was gently reminding him that Skywalker had disobeyed a direct order and nearly gotten himself blown up just to find Artoo when the plucky little astromech had gone missing. So odds of rescue were admittedly higher than if they'd been assigned to another Jedi. 

_"This is Senator Amidala. Can anyone hear me?_"

"Senator, we're trapped in the Safe Room at the end of Complex B."

_"We'll be right there." _There was a pause. _" ... Are you contaminated?" _As if on cue they heard stifled coughing over in a corner of the room, and a few of the boys took their helmets off so that they could breath better. Rex suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that the sweat on his brow wasn't from stress. 

"I'm afraid so," Ahsoka sighed. Her lekku were gleaming slightly, wetly. She bit her lip and wouldn't look him in the eye. Rex felt the urge to cough and stifled it before taking off his helmet, and the young Padawan blinked a few times but made no comment as he coughed into his elbow. The virus acted fast. Brutally fast. Ailen continued to cough and Denal placed a hand on his brother's shoulder plate, brown eyes large and scared as he turned to his captain. Ahsoka got back on the comm.

"Senator, where _are _you?" She asked.

_"Right outside the safe room."_

"Can you get the door open?" There was silence, and then the mechanics groaned in protest as the two sections slowly split and headed for both floor and ceiling. Both Senator Amidala and Jar Jar were on the other side wearing bright yellow hazmat suits, along with a few troopers who had had time to activate the air filters in their helmets. Their was a distinctive grainy sound to their breathing that identified it. In total, they were two of the bomb squad and five of Torrent Company. That left... Rex did a quick head count. ... another bomb squad unaccounted for along with twelve of his men. He set his comm to cycle to an open signal."

"Anybody out there?" He asked hoarsely. Come on guys. I've got thirteen people missing."

"_Look no further," _Jesse answered. _"We're all holed up in the safe room at the end of Complex A. How are you doing?" _

"Some of the virus leaked in. We've got the rep and sen in hazmats but the rest of us are carriers. 

_"Sir, we can_-" 

"If you're going to say "come join you" forget about it. I want as many of you to get out of here in one piece as possible. Is that understood?" 

_"Yessir." _

"And Jesse? You're senior Sergeant here. If I go you'd usually be in charge. However, I'm going to divide this up. You're currently in command of everyone who's clean. If I go Brye will be in charge of everyone carrying the virus."

_" ...Sir?" _

"I just want to clarify that under no circumstances are you to leave that safe room."

_"Sir yessir."_

"Good man." He turned away from his comm and rejoined the conversation.

"-Aren't many droids left," Padmé was saying. "We saw some heading to the South Entrance.

"Well, then as long as we're able we'll help you destroy the droids before they breach the compound," Ahsoka vowed. Rex handed Padmé his rifle and, after some slight hesitation, gave Jar Jar one of his pistols. He had a feeling he'd regret it later. 


	18. Virus II

It wasn't easy to run down the hall and blast droids when you were short of breath and your vision was beginning to blur, but somehow they were all managing. It spoke volumes to Kaminoan training- no matter how brutal- that they were able to keep fighting while slowly succumbing to the most dangerous virus in the known galaxy. 

Ahsoka tried to keep pace with him, but with her short legs she was falling behind. Rex lengthened his stride and emerged from the pack to take the lead, rounding a corner and running along the curving wall for a bit so that he didn't have to slacken momentum. It took a bit more effort than he had in him and he stumbled on the descent, managing to regain his footing as they met up with Padmé and her group by a hatch ladder. Rex aimed upward and unconsciously noted that the senator was doing the same.

"Stop!" He commanded. 

"Don't open the hatch!" Amidala warned.

"You're too late!" The droid retorted. Rex sighed and then opened fire. It richocheted down the ladder and landed in a sparking pile at his feet. 

"Don't test my patience." He turned to Padmé with new respect. "Nice shooting, senator. That was a well-placed kill shot."

"Girl's gotta defend herself," she replied with a tired smirk as she checked how much charge she had left in her blaster. "Let's get to the next hatch." 

They took off down the next corridor looking for Hatch B-3, but presently they heard a rumbling noise.

"I don't like that," Brye murmured. "Sounds like-" two droidekas rolled into view and came to a tripod stop with weapons drawn and shields up. "I hate it when I'm right."

"Duck!" Ahsoka ordered. They all hit the floor and pressed themselves as close to the curved walls as their armor would allow, and the padawan deflected the bolts in a mad flurry of parries. She then rushed forward and, landing on one of the shield domes, deactivated the end of her lightsaber underneath the protective rays. The droid she was sitting on stumbled and collapsed. As she moved to do the same to the second one there seemed to be a bit of a commotion behind him, but Rex was too busy trying not to get shot. He saw a blue bolt go off and was about to lay into the idiot who didn't understand that it was _ray shielded_ when he realized that it had been Jar Jar. And there were some degrees of stupid that you just couldn't fix. 

"Senator!" Ahsoka gasped. The hissing noise drew Rex's attention to Padmé's suit, which had one of the tubes severed.

"Your suit's been compromised," Echo murmured as he leaned against the wall nearby and tried to collect his breath. 

Ahsoka rushed forward as the senator began to take off her helmet. She was just as doomed as they were, now. 

"I'm so sorry," the Togruta apologized. To Rex's surprise Padmé flashed her a sad but comforting smile.

"Don't blame yourself. These things tend to happen in a warzone." It was an oddly rational and seasoned thing for a politician to say, and Rex took note of it. People had to earn his respect, and she certainly had. 

"On to B-5 then?" Ailen questioned. They set off at a walking pace for once, finally recognizing that they were in no condition to keep up an attack run. While doing so Rex dropped back to walk beside Jar Jar. 

"I'll be taking my blaster back, for obvious reasons," he said quietly. Jar Jar sheepishly handed it over without a word and Rex hurriedly to Ahsoka's side. She paused in the dim lighting, head cocked slightly. Her hunter's hearing was an endless boon in these situations. 

"There they are!" She exclaimed as she turned right at a junction and broke into a run. She sliced through a droid at the bottom of a ladder, took the legs off the one in the middle and then the head, and lastly used the Force to pull the one with the heated saw blade down within her reach. It was over before the rest of them had time to register and react, but they rushed over to the young Jedi as she leaned heavily against the ladder rungs and groaned. 

"Ahsoka!" Padmé exclaimed. 

"This was the last of the droids," Ailen updated. "The other teams cleaned out levels C and D."

"Let's head back to the safe room then," Rex suggested. "Have everyone join up. Do me a favor and apprise Jesse of the situation."

"Sure thing." While Ailen did that Rex went over to Ahsoka. Padmé was only just managing to prop her upright.

"Can you walk?" He asked gently. Ahsoka shook her head. 

"Sorry, Rexter."

"It's all right, sir." He held out a hand and she took it, collapsing into his chest. He scooped her up in his arms and was surprised by how light she was. She was barely fourteen years old, small for her age, and undernourished. There wasn't a lot of time for decent meals when tracking down the enemy, but Rex decided to make sure she at least ate _something_ when they were on patrol. 

Despite the feather-heavy weight of Ahsoka Rex was fairly winded by the time they got to the safe room, and he set her down on a crate. He allowed himself to sink to the floor and rested his back against it, breath coming in rasping gasps. His heart rate was rabbiting. 

"Hey Denal, what are the symptoms of this virus?" He asked. Denal consulted his datapad.

"Uh... oh. That's nice. It favors attacking muscles and muscular organs. Most common death from this thing is heart attack due to high heart rate and stress."

"Pleasant," Rex muttered.

"Second most common is asphyxiation because the diaphragm gives out and air can't be pumped into or out of the lungs." 

"We need to send an update to Master Skywalker," Ahsoka wheezed. Padmé supported her while Echo set up the holoprojector. They were patched through to the palace.

"Where are Master Kenobi and Skywalker?" Padmé asked her guard captain. He looked uncomfortable. 

"_They went off-planet in search of a cure," _he explained. "_We haven't been able to get in touch, but we'll record your message and send it through when we regain contact_."

"Thank you. Ahsoka?" 

"I'm ready." She took a deep, rasping breath. "Master, if you can hear me we've held the droids and Naboo is safe. I repeat: _Naboo is safe." _She broke into a coughing fit and Padmé finished out the recording. 

"Promise that no one will ever open this bunker. ...Goodbye, Anakin. I-" she didn't allow herself to finish her sentence. "Captain Typhos, that's about it. Please get that to them as soon as possible."

"Of- of course, milady." The holo flickered out and the room was plunged into bad red light again. 

"What do we do now, sir?" Fives asked. Rex sighed and rubbed his face, fighting exhaustion. Thenyounger trooper's eyes were bright with fever, and blue lines were inching their way across his face where the major blood vessels were. There was no doubt in Rex's mind that he looked much the same. 

"Conserve our strength the best we can," he replied. "The General's got a lead on a possible cure. Best we can do is be alive for him to administer it when he gets back." Fives nodded and went to sit next to Echo, who was on the floor with his back braced against the wall in an uneasy sleep. 

Rex turned his attention to one of his newest recruits, a rookie by the name of Blizz. The man was spasming very slightly, and Brye was trying to manually move his diaphragm for him. Rex motioned his brother away with the slightest of gestures and he pulled out a high-propensity painkiller. It was a simple matter to inject it into a major muscle grouping. Blizz's pupils dilated and he relaxed. 

"Thank you, sir." His voice was a strained whisper. 

"Shh, shh..." Rex soothed. Blizz hesitated for a moment and then lowered his head onto his captain's shoulder. His breathing became shallower and shallower until it stopped, and reverently Rex closed his eyes before replacing his helmet and propping his limp form against a shipping container. 

"Such a waste," Padmé murmured sadly as she placed a damp cloth on a trooper's forehead. Rex grabbed a tarp and began dragging it over Blizz's body.

"With all due respect senator, it's what these men were born to do." _And that includes me. _It was an oddly reflective moment in which Rex thought he understood Anakin's activist stance on soldier's rights, but Padmé's next response spoke volumes as to how far from the mark he really was. 

"I just hope that their sacrifice brings us closer to peace." 

"It will, Padmé," Ahsoka rasped in between coughing fits. "You have to believe that..." She collapsed, and Rex was across the distance in the space between two heartbeats making sure she didn't hit the ground. 

The lights were flickering faintly as their power began to give out, and Rex took in a shallow shuddering breath as a banging noise and then the sound of cutting could be heard on the other side of the door. The virus didn't have a long life without a host, so he wasn't worried about contamination. Jesse had headed for the surface and the rest of their forces an hour ago. 

Ahsoka shifted slightly against his side but didn't wake. She'd fallen unconscious and hadn't come out of it. The cutting sound ended with a heavy bang, and he felt something jab into his neck. It was consistent with a hypospray. Strong hands gripped him under the legs and shoulders and hauled him into a gurney, and the brief electric crackle of the anti-grav on the bottom was the only thing that told him it was moving. 

Bright sunlight pierced the edges of his vision and made him wince, and then shapes came into focus in his blurred vision. They were topside now, and being loaded into gunships. They were moving again and he heard Kenobi speaking to Jar Jar. There was definitely nothing wrong with his ears then.

"-uite brave fending off the battle droids, Jar Jar."

"Really?"

"Senator Amidala suggested we offer you... _training_ to hone your skills with a blaster."

"Really?"

"Really." _Oh, no..._

"Can we stop for a moment so I can have a word with the general?" Rex asked the person moving his gurney hoarsely.

"Of course." When they cruised to a halt Jar Jar was dancing in place. O I-wan looked at him with an expectant smile.

"_I_ am _not _training _him_," Rex stated definitively. Kenobi's eyebrow arched in amusement and he let him go on without picking up a pathetic liform for a marksman student. Truth be told, after everything he'd been through in the last few days... that had probably been the closet brush with death he'd managed to avoid.

The gurney came to rest next to a few others in a gunship and Rex settled in to surrender to the oblivion of sleep. He heard someone mumble and turned his head to look. Brye was in the gurney next to him looking much the worse for wear, but he was definitely alive. Their eyes met and neither said a word. A few moments later Brye slipped his hand to the edge of his gurney and Rex did the same. They intertwined their fingers and took comfort in the presence of their squad brother right beside them, letting the world fade away because in that moment in time that was the only other person that mattered in the entire galaxy. Farther back in the party Fives and Echo were doing the exact same thing.


	19. Jai'galaar'la Sur'haii'se

_The wind was hot against his face, dry and dusty. He wished the air filters in Casey's acquired helmet had properly flushed the debris out of the system instead of clogging, because he needed the isolating and safely armored cocoon it provided along with the life-saving diagnostics systems in the HUD. Procurement would be kicking themselves for not listening to the trouble-shooting unit, he was sure. _

_Rex came upon a lull in the sandstorm and paused to take a breather, hissing the air through clenched teeth as he stumbled and put full pressure on his injured ankle. Off-balance, the man he had been carrying on his back slid with a dull thud into the crumbling red dirt. He let out a sharp, whimpering yelp as Rex scrambled to right himself and suddenly realized that he had walked into a narrow canyon. _

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"-Ex? Rex." Blurry shapes crept in at the edge of his vision as he slowly clawed his way back to consciousness, the warbling shrieks of the desert wind fading. Something gently tapped the side of his face, and he swatted it away... except he didn't. His reflexes were sluggish and uncooperative. 

"Wha?" He mumbled. Cody was smiling down at him looking for all the world as if he hadn't slept for the last forty-eight hours. He probably hadn't.

"Welcome back ner vod." 

"You never call me that unless you were worried about me." 

"Well, I was. It was a pretty close call there, you know." Cody's hand clenched and unclenched at his side, a trademark muscle flex of his when he wanted to reach out and touch someone but was refraining from doing so. He noticed Rex watching him and made a conscious effort to still his fingers.

"I'd smack you upside the head for reckless endangerment but they're still worried about contamination via contact." 

"Uh huh." Rex made an effort to smile, but it was too much. His exhaustion must have shown on his face because Cody's expression took on a slightly crestfallen look to it.

"I'll let you rest. And don't worry about your men, because we still have plenty to wrap up and we'll be working together for a while yet." 

"Thanks, vod." 

"Yeah, don't mention it. You'd do the same for me." 

"Still nice to hear it though." 

"Mmm." 

As soon as Cody was gone Rex fell back against the pillows and surrendered to the oblivion of unconsciousness.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

_The Geonosians descended upon the canyon in a thunderstorm of beating wings and half-animal, half-insect screams. The other trooper mumbled something but didn't regain consciousness, and Rex smelled the iron tang of blood in the soaked red sand as he threw himself down over his fellow soldier. He wrapped his limbs about the man and then rolled a complete pass until they were underneath an alcove, suitably sheltered but only somewhat hidden. It took him a few moments to realize that he'd left his- or rather Casey's- helmet out in the open. He swiped at the dried blood around his right ear to try and chip some of it off, but it only started bleeding again. _

_The space was tight, and he ran his hand along the length of his jaw in an effort to move his arm to a more comfortable position. The pads of his fingers tore through the glove and skin against something sharp and he jerked them away from his chin as quickly as possible, tasting metal as he shoved them into his mouth. He'd forgotten about the razor-sharp shrapnel embedded in his chin. _

_"What's going on?" The other trooper murmured. Rex was so startled by the unexpected consciousness of the man that he went rigid; deadweight on his brother's cracked ribs. "Ow." _

_"Sorry. Just keep it down. There's a patrol bound to come by any minute and we aren't exactly inconspicuous out here." _

_"Where is here exactly?"_

_"Eh... about seven klicks south from where you almost got blown into aiwha bait." _

_"And you carried me all tha- what- what happened to your ear?" _

_"Shrapnel. Rocks. I got no idea. How's your chest?"_

_"Been better. Would be getting air easier if you weren't lying on it." There was a clacking noise outside that made them both freeze in place and quit breathing for the better part of two minutes. Insectoid feet prowled through the dusty area and moved on, seeming oblivious to their presence. They moved out into the relative open when the Bugs were gone. _

_The trooper took a few steps on wobbly legs and then sank onto his knees, breathing labored and irregular. _

_"Sorry."_

_"What are you apologizing for?" Rex asked as he came over and sat back on his heels. "It's from the blood loss. Got a pretty big chunk of your armor blown out in the abdomin. I tried patching it up as best as I could, but-"_

_"But this is a hot zone with heavy fire and the nearest med station is twelve clicks from here," the man finished. He hesitated a few moments before popping the seal on his own helmet. Rex found his own face- devoid of injury- staring back at him. _

_"My name's Leego, by the way."_

_"Rex."_

_"Well, thanks for saving my skin even if we're going to die on this dust ball anyway."_

_"Are you always a pessimist, or is this just an off day for you?" Rex retorted sarcastically as he draped Leego back over his shoulders. "Do me a favor and keep hold of my helmet." _

_"Least I can do, aside from the effortless task of being dead-weight."_

_"We need to find another analogy because I'm not having you die on me today, okay?"_

_" ...Yeah. Okay."_

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The next time Rex opened his eyes he found that his cognitive functions were much improved. Things were still a little blurry, but if he focused on them they resolved into the crisp quality of 20/20 vision that he was used to. 

Turning his head to the right he wound up staring at blank wall, a _Nabooian _wall with its natural creamy gold stone. Turning to the left he saw a row of fourteen other beds with patients in them, and when he managed to lift his head up slightly he could tell that there were fifteen along that far wall. So they were on Naboo, receiving treatment in a medical facility that had to be equipped with an isolation ward in case the cure the General had found hadn't worked. 

Rex tried to sit up by bracing his arms on the sides of the bed, but he got tangled in tubes and his muscles wouldn't support his weight. He dropped back down flat onto his back with an over-dramatic sigh. 

"And they call you perfect soldiers," a tired yet sarcastic voice murmured next to him. Rex looked at the person in the bed directly to his left and saw Senator Amidala looking the worse for wear. She flashed a disarming smile. He'd heard politicians used those to win over prospective voters, but since he had no citizen's rights it would have been a wasted effort. In all reality she seemed to be the only truthful senator out there... not that he'd met a wide selection. General Skywalker seemed to like her, anyway. 

"Even the most elite troops complain," Rex responded neutrally. "We have the capacity to feel entitled to a certain level of comfort, however trivial, just like any other arrogant species in the galaxy." 

"I can't tell if you're being completely literal or sarcastic," Padmé admitted. She didn't seem to mind revealing that she didn't know everything. 

"A little bit of both, I guess. Gallows humor. It's not every day you stare an extinct pathogen in the face and live to tell about it." 

"I can see why Anakin likes you." The casual use of the first name caught Rex completely off-guard. 

"You seem to know the General... very well," he commented clumsily. Padmé's cheeks flushed slightly. 

"I've known him since he was ten, during the Battle of Naboo. We crashed on Tatooine and he and his mother helped us. Master Qui-Gon saw that he was Force-sensitive and freed him from slavery so that we could take him with us to Coruscant. I've been close friends with both Anakin and Obi-wan ever since." 

Rex wasn't certain which insight startled him more: the fact that Skywalker was more involved in politics than he appeared to be or the fact that he had been a slave. Both were singularly revealing to the man's personality in their own right. 

"Huh." He said. They both shifted uncomfortably in their beds and let the conversation trail off as a medical droid rolled over. It began fussing with a datapad that Rex assumed held their vitals. He hated having to crane his head every time he tried to see and wished he could sit up. He tried again, and the droid applied gentle but firm pressure against his chest until he gave up, silently fuming.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

_"Are we there yet?" Leego asked. Rex resisted the urge to snap a reply and somehow retained his composure, but his muscles tensed. "I know I'm annoying. I shouldn't have asked."_

_"Not your fault you can't see for yourself. At any rate I can see the outpost just over the crest of the hill. Nearly."_

_"Thanks again. I know the landmines in that last field weren't a joy to walk through."_

_"It wasn't too bad."_

_"Or the falling stalactites of that cave. Or the landslide off that one cliff."_

_"I get it."_

_"The ambush from the SBDs."_

_"You can stop now."_

_"Or that time when the Bugs tried to carry us off." _

_"Seriously. Stop talking." _

_"You've put up with a lot for someone you hardly know," Leego commented quietly. He shifted slightly in Rex's grip, displacing the weight on his shoulders. He stumbled in the thick sandy terrain and had a fair fight to regain his footing. A trooper came running up to them and skidded unsuccessfully to a halt; he continued over the edge of a dune and had to slog it back up to them. _

_"Do you need help?" The newcomer asked. Rex grunted in affirmation and the man helped him move Leego from his shoulders so that his arms were draped over the backs of their necks. They half-dragged, half-carried him the remainder of the way. _

_Rex was taking a well-earned breather on an empty supply crate when a Commander walked over. _

_"Your friend won't shut up about what you went through to get him here," he said. "Nineteen klicks. Even the outskirt lines weren't that far away."_

_"We started from the position of the outer line before our forces fell back," Rex explained. "And that left us behind enemy lines. I had to do some serious tabbing to work my way around the active fire zones." _

_"All that on a shattered ankle?" Rex shrugged._

_"I took a painkiller or two." It was hard to tell what the officer's expression was, because it was well-hidden behind his helmet. _

_"Uh huh."_

_"I'm waiting for a medic to look me over so that I can get back to the fighting," Rex added pointedly. _

_"Well, we're pulling back actually. Battle's over. We won. Evacuating injured first, and then the fighting fit. I recommend you take the soonest possible shuttle."_

_"I'm a WW." _Walking Wounded. _"I'm staying until the critical are in the clear." _

_The Commander eyed his stubborn expression and sighed._

_"I'm guessing that nothing I say can dissuade you?" _

_"Nice guess."_

_"Fine. Just don't try helping or anything. The medics would skin me alive if I let you lift heavy objects on that ankle." _

_"I'm not looking to be a problem. I'll behave."_

_"Why don't I believe that?" _

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Rex managed to heave himself up onto his elbows and hung that way for a few moments, searching for the elevation controls. He found them and listened to the slight whir before collapsing on the upright back of the medic bed. He was still exhausted, but at least he could see. Sometimes you had to take things a step at a time. 

"Hey, Rexter." He looked to his left and saw Ahsoka smiling weakly at him over Padmé's sleeping shoulder. She'd been hit worst by the sickness; the virus seemed to be more susceptible to adolescents than adults.

"Hey, 'Soka. How you feeling, kid?"

"Well, I woke up on the right side of the dirt this morning so I guess I'm gonna be okay."

"You held your own out there. I'm proud of you."

"That's high praise."

"You're on painkillers, aren't you?"

"How could you tell?"

"Jedi mind powers of observation."

"Harr harr." They let a comfortable silence lapse between them. It was punctuated by shallow and raspy breathing, but the patterns were even and strong. Everyone else was asleep, and they'd ended up losing only three men aside from the two caught in the explosion. Considering what they'd been through it was incredible. 

Ahsoka leaned back on her bed for a few moments and then spoke again. 

"How did you get yours elevated like that?"

"Panel of buttons on the side." There was the sound of scrabbling.

"I can't find it." 

"Okay, wait one." Rex braced his arms and pulled himself into a full sitting position, then tentatively swung his legs over the side. They dangled in the air and he cautiously moved closer to the floor. The smooth stone was cool but not frigid to his bare feet, and the white tunic and pants he had on were made of a loose fabric that whispered when it brushed against itself. He waited a few moments before putting his weight onto his legs, hoping they would support him. He let go of the edge of the bed. They did. 

Rex grabbed the pack of fluids currently being siphoned into his arm and slung it over his shoulder. It was surprisingly lightweight. That done, he took his stride one footstep at a time and made sure he was nearby something to grab on to at any given moment. After what felt like eternity he was standing next to Ahsoka's bed, leaning on the edge with one hand while he fumbled for the correct button in the other. The bed whirred softly as it moved her into a sitting position.

"That better?" He asked. 

"Thanks." She had been watching him the entire time. "You look exhausted."

"Yeah, I need a breather." Ahsoka shifted over just enough that there was room on the side for him to sit. Hesitantly, he did so. "How's training going?"

"Nowhere. I've had more actual lessons with Master Kenobi than I have with Skyguy." She looked small and abandoned, and Rex was reminded that she was only fourteen years old. "I get the feeling that he doesn't think I'm worth the effort." 

"That's not true," Rex soothed, thinking back to the somewhat recent conversation he'd had with the General. "He's just... you have to remember, little 'un, that Skywalker was a Padawan himself none too recently. He's probably feeling that he isn't qualified to teach you. That you deserve a better instructor, in fact." Ahsoka stared at him, blue eyes wide with surprise.

"Really?" The child was suddenly replaced once again by the sassy teenager. "Well he still needs to get off his lazy butt and teach me some lightsaber drills all the same."

"Y'know-" Rex began as he leaned backward slightly and made himself more comfortable- "When this is all over I'd be happy to spar with you. I'm not a good duelist by any stretch of the imagination, but I learned the basics with a vibrosword on Kamino and you'd at least have a target that hits back." 

"I like that idea. I think I'll take you up on that offer." They were interrupted by the angry twittering of the med droid as it came in and shooed him back to his own bed, and they exchanged a mischievous smile as it told him off for overexertion. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

_By the time Rex got off of the _Occulus _Leego had made sure that everyone knew what he'd done. Being a celebrity was almost as bad as being a social outcast, he was certain, but for inverse reasons. Social outcasts longed for contact with their society, but after a while celebrities just wanted some peace and quiet to themselves. _

_The ramp slid open onto a rain-lashed platform, and Rex disembarked among a mass of other armored bodies. They milled about for a few moments, uncertain of what they were supposed to do or where they were to go. They stood in the open, some of the men replacing their helmets to keep the rain off. Others dashed for the refuge of a deep overhang. Rex was one of the few that closed their eyes and tilted their faces upward into the downpour. _

_The water felt cool and purifying on his skin, as if the horrors of the past few days had been a bad dream. _

_"Mar'e!" Someone shouted. Rex, along with several other troopers, turned toward the voice and saw the entirety of the Cuy'val dar approaching them. Decked out in their full Beskar'gam it was a sobering experience. One of them limped to the front of the group; he was shorter than most with graying hair and sand-colored plates. His eager face scanned the crowd, then became crestfallen. He hadn't found who he was looking for. _

_"Hey, we've got some honors to give out here," someone else said. Oh yes, Rex recognized _him. _Dekar Selzen had been happily retired and content governing his clan back home when Jango had asked him to join his happy little group of ageing miscreants, and he'd left his son in charge to take up the opportunity. Unlike the rest of the Cuy'val dar he never seemed to be in bad humor, and he had a boyish quality that set well with the men he trained. Alpha-17 hadn't shut up about him all through Rex's command training. _

_He walked into the center of the platform, not seeming to mind the downpour. The troopers parted for his navy-clad form like a river, and he set his helmet on the ground. There was a conspicuous set of bright red-orange Jaig eyes on it that matched his silver-streaked auburn hair; the pupils mere slits in the vague, flaring empty outlines. His soft silver eyes raked his captive audience._

_"ARC Captain Fordo. Acting Captain Rex. Step forward, please." _

_There was complete silence as the two of them moved out of the crowd and stood in front of the Mandalorian side by side. Rex's heart was hammering so hard in his chest that he could hear the blood rushing through his ears. _Acting Captain. _His appointment to an officer's status was pending, then. Selzen cleared his throat before continuing. _

_"Verd ori'shya beskar'gam," he said loudly, clearly. "Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore. Gar cuyir Mando. Gar cuyir ner vode. Mhi cuyir solus. Jatnese be te jatnese, mhi cuyir jai'galaar." As he spoke he dipped his fingers in a small container of hazard paint and gestured for them to sit on their legs. They did, placing their helmets in front of their knees. He started with Fordo, sitting back athletically on his heels to paint a unique set of Jaig Eyes on both his bucket and his forehead. He then leaned in close and whispered something in his ear. Fordo visibly swallowed, then nodded. _

_Dekar Selzen came to sit in front of Rex. He seemed to think as he put the Jaig Eyes- different from his own as well as Fordo's- on Rex's helmet. He dipped his fingers into the paint again and gently but firmly ran his fingers in the same design over Rex's forehead, and leaned in close to whisper in his good ear. _

_"You'll always be one of us, son. Remember that." _

_"Yes sir," Rex murmured. This was more than just a bestowal of the highest award a soldier could receive. It was an acceptance into a culture that ran through his very blood. It was a precious moment, one he knew he'd remember till the end of his days. Both he and Fordo got back onto their feet, clutching their helmets as if they were made of fragile glass. The rain continued to lash the landing platform, but nobody cared in the slightest._

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"Hey, Rex!" Anakin came to a screeching halt as he caught up with him in the corridor of the hospital. "Glad to see you on your feet."

"Fighting fit, sir. Nothing keeps me down for long."

"Well, you deserve a medal or something for what you went through at the very least." It was Skywalker's way of easing through his guilt at not being there with them. 

"Thank you sir, but I've got the only recognition that really matters." Rex tapped the Jaig Eyes on his helmet, focused on a point just over his general's shoulder, and smiled. Leego continued chatting with other of his fellow members of the 212th, oblivious that he had the Captain's attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The translation for the Mando'a is directly below in this comment.
> 
> • Mar'e! - Finally!  
• Verd ori'shya beskar'gam - A warrior is more than his armor  
• Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore - Pressure makes gems, ease makes decay (proverb)  
• Gar cuyir Mando. Gar cuyir ner vode. Mhi cuyir solus - You are Mandalorian. You are my brothers. We are one   
• Jatnese be te jatnese - The best of the best   
• Mhi cuyir jai'galaar - We are shriek-hawks (a Mandalorian bird of prey renowned for its fierceness and bravery from which the tradition of the honorary Jaig Eyes is derived)


	20. Jedi's Bane I

Cody was playing with Rex's kama as they waited for the generals to arrive, every so often giving the fabric a good kick from where he was sitting on the shipping crate. He would then watch the hem sway back and forth, sometimes catching on Rex's knee guard. When it settled back in place he would kick it again. Since Cody rarely ever felt relaxed enough to even _think_ about acting immature Rex let him indulge himself and ignored the uncomfortable dragging it made at it tugged on his belt. 

They heard them arguing long before they came into view, and they both stood smartly to attention. Kenobi and Skywalker came in like a hurricane during Kamino's storm season and their commanding officers suddenly found themselves swept up in the chaos. Ahsoka looked up from one to the other where she was caught in the middle behind the two Jedi, looking exasperated. 

"They've been like this all afternoon," she complained. "I need one of you to shoot me right between the eyes and put me out of my misery." 

"Well hello to you too, little'un." Rex stopped short of ruffling the Padawan headdress on the top of her head like he always did, never quite understanding what possessed him to do so in the first place. 

"Commander," Cody acknowledged with a chuckle. 

"Hey. So who's shooting me?" 

"Sorry. No matter how many times I get asked I'll never do it," Rex stated dismissively. 

"If I'm going to be shooting anybody It'll be _him," _Cody murmured only half jokingly with a nod toward Anakin. Neither of the two Jedi seemed to realize they had a trio of dutiful followers on their heels. 

"That would work too," Ahsoka said thoughtfully. 

"Well fine then!" Anakin exclaimed loudly. "If it was my fault he got away then I'll get him back. So that he can tell everybody that it was in fact _your _fault." 

"_That _I would love to see." 

"What, a Bounty Hunter actually being honest for once?" 

"Ha ha." 

"I'll just go find Ahsoka and-" he suddenly froze. The other four stopped with him. Turning around he exhibited a look of pleasant surprise. "Oh. Well that was easy. So... how long were you guys behind us?" 

"Long enough to know that your argument was petty and childish," Ahsoka retorted sarcastically whilst folding her arms. "And as a child, I would know." 

"No time for chatter Snips," Skywalker brushed aside impatiently. "We've got a holocron to get and a Jedi Master to rescue." 

"We'll be handling the investigation in-house, as it were," Obi-wan explained, turning to Cody. "We'll stay here to comb over the Temple and see if we can trace Bane's motive from his hideout when we find it." 

"Right then, sir. I'll go tell the boys that they can unpack." Cody gave a swift nod to them all and was on his way. 

"I'll get everyone on the ship within the next quarter-hour," Rex assured. 

"You've got a half hour," Anakin called after him. "I think some of them decided to cash in their liberty time." 

"Yessir. And if they were all in barracks it'd only take five minutes."

"What, do you have them all tracked?" Skywalker asked jokingly. Rex just raised an eyebrow in mysterious good humor and headed for GAR headquarters. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The ship rumbled ominously as Rex moved through the barracks, and he stopped by Jesse's bunk to watch the man kick restlessly. Anyone trying to wake him up would end up with a sock on the jaw for their efforts, so Rex took the precaution of pinning his arms down before giving him a light smack to the side of the face. The sergeant jerked underneath him in a reflexive attempt to lash out but couldn't, and he awoke with a slightly terrified "ah!" when he saw Rex's face mere inches from his own.

"All right, I'm up, I'm up," he rumbled. The captain released his hold and he sprang nimbly to his feet. "Geez. Captain, did you even _read_ the section on personal space in the manual?"

"The interrogation one." 

"Oh, I bet your squad mates _loved _you."

"We do, actually." Brye ambled past with a smirk as he commented, winding a hair tie in his fingers and pulling the majority of his shaggy blond hair back. The bangs promptly fell out and caught on his ears, as was their usual ritual. "Where do you think he got that wake-up tactic from? We _all_ do it." 

"Wait, you and he were-" Ailen started, trailing off as a look of revelation dawned across his face. He struggled into a boot. "Things suddenly make so much more sense now." Fives walked by and yawned profusely. Echo cuffed him over the back of the head affectionately.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." 

"Sure thing, buddy. Sure thing..." 

Denal checked his chronometer and rubbed his eyes. "Only 18:00?" He murmured. "Sleep shift only started two hours ago."

"I know, and I know that you're all tired, but this is a priority mission we've got here," Rex explained sympathetically as he stifled a yawn. Few of them had had a full sleep for over thirty hours. They'd started liberty leave on Coruscant and he'd found them all accounted for in bunks rather than out on the town as Skywalker had presumed. The extra twenty minutes he'd required for getting them on the ship had been a blissful leniency in allowing them to sleep in just a little bit longer. It hadn't helped much. 

"I'm not tired," Brye replied smugly.

"Yeah, but you're a malicious little ray of psychotic sunshine," Denal muttered. He stood up and hit his head on the bottom of the bunk above his. "Ow!" 

Kix poked his head up and peered over the side reprovingly. The lightning bolts he'd shaved in his stubble hair seemed to serve as a second pair of angry eyebrows. 

"You don't have to punch me to wake me up," he snapped irritably. They all watched as Hardcase went skidding across the floor, tripped over his own two feet, and crashed into a wall. "Oh boy. Looks like I'm needed." 

"Nah, he's got a thick skull," one of the other rookies said unconcernedly. "I wouldn't worry about it." Proverbially, Hardcase sat up and shook his head violently.

"I'm okay!"

"See?"

"Speaking of seeing..." Rex said. They all looked at him. "I need to see all of you out in the hangar in ten minutes. Got it?" Tired variations of 'yes sir' followed him as he swung on his heel and walked out of the barracks. 

Ten minutes later to the second the entirety of Torrent Company plus some of the troopers that 'came complimentary with ship' were milling about the main hangar. Anakin and Ahsoka approached.

"I've rounded up three brigades, sir," Rex stated promptly. The term 'brigade' was a very, _very _loose one. In this instance Rex meant squads of twelve. He waited an appropriate amount of seconds before adding the expectant question. "So where are we going?" 

"We're going to board a Separatist frigate," Skywalker said with a knowing smile. Ahsoka looked slightly disapproving. "Then we're going to rescue Master Ropal and recover an archive holocron." 

He couldn't be serious. They had been prepared for ground assault and were ill-equipped. Maybe it had slipped his mind.

" ...But we don't have assault craft, sir," Rex reminded tactfully. "Just a few fighters and the _Twilight_." Anakin's smile slipped, he he gave a reproachful glare. No, he was well aware. Admiral Yularen had probably pointed it out already and that had put the Jedi in a sour mood. "Uh- waiting for orders, sir." 

"Nice save," Brye chuckled over the internal comm in their helmets. Rex blinked a few times and it muted. 

"And the plan is?" Ahsoka asked sarcastically. She was suddenly on the receiving end of her Master's bad graces and took her headstrong attitude down a few notches. "Just... curious." Anakin's gaze flitted around the hangar and seemed to rest on something, which put the smile back on his face.

"I came to see if I could be any help, General Skywalker?" Yularen said as he joined them. It was his way of being respectful of rank while a the same time being able to watch someone crash and burn. He should have known better with Skywalker, though. The general's smile turned into a smug smirk.

"Actually you can," he said triumphantly and pointed to the far end of the hangar. "Activate those walkers, Admiral." There was a moment of contemplative silence.

"You are _not _thinking of using those to transport the clones to that frigate," Yularen protested. Rex was thinking it wasn't a half bad idea.

"They _are _pressurized," Ahsoka reasoned. 

"_And _they're equipped with magnetic feet," Rex finished. He turned approvingly to his commanding officer. "Good call." Cody would be screaming by now if this was his op. 

"Master, you're a genius, Ahsoka praised. 

"I know."

"But those walkers are designed for _terrain_, not space!" The admiral was still trying to be the voice of reason. He should have realized by now that they were all insane. Anakin ignored him. 

"Rex, load 'em up. Come on Snips! We need to get into some pressurized suits."

"Right behind you, Master!"

"Executes, ATTE300. Carnivores, Walker 773." That left his own personal squad, which had previously been named Tempest but was now known as the Old Guard by the other squads because all of the members happened to be part of the original Torrent Company line-up. They had a few extra persons with them today, though. They seemed nervous. 

"So we're taking the 692 then are we, Captain?" Denal asked. Rex nodded.

"Let's go!" He shouted. "Move it! We haven't got all day." They were boarding the Walker when Ahsoka slipped through the hatch in a maroon space suit, clear face plate of her helmet slightly opaque by the moisture given out with each breath. She paused, bracing herself on the bulkhead with a distracted look on her face. 

"You okay Com?" Ailen asked from his position in the pilot's seat as he warmed up the engine.

"Yeah... yeah." She shook her head to clear it. "I felt something, was all."

"In the Force?" He asked tactfully, but Rex signaled for the trooper to drop it.

"I can't tell what it was, though. It was so faint. And yet... I have a feeling that we might not find Master Ropal in the best condition."

"Is the General joining us, sir?" Denal asked, changing the subject. He was leaning through the opening with his hand on the hatch handle.

"He's hitching a lift with the Carnivores. You can go ahead and close it." 

"Will do." 

They moved the Walkers out onto the drop opening, heard Yularen mutter something about reckless endangerment, and then they were free-falling through space. The Walkers landed heavily on the Separatist ship's hull.

"Check your seals one last time before heading out," Rex ordered over the comm. "The last thing we need is for someone to have a faulty air filter." They exited the tank with Ahsoka in the lead, and she and Anakin began doing what they did best: slicing droids in half. Most of the troopers, Rex included, opted to stay on the Walkers until the initial fight was over. After that they moved to pick off the survivors while Artoo opened the airlock. 

"We're not coming back for the tanks so everybody on me," Skywalker ordered. The men piloting the Walkers jumped out and raced to catch up as they filed inside. 

The ship's corridors were packed with droids scurrying about their jobs, and they were in a panic. It was easy to get to the Bridge. The two Jedi, having ditched their helmets, rolled over the defenses as they entered in. Two droids were left standing when the barrage of blasterfire subsided.

"I'm not the Commander!" One of them shouted, pointing at the other. "He is!"

"Uh huh. Likely story," Ailen muttered. He shot the accused clanked down. 

"Well, I guess I'm the Commander now..." 

"That right? Too bad." _Blast. _

"I worry about you sometimes," Denal said as they secured the Bridge. Rex walked over to Anakin as he and Ahsoka watched a recording Artoo had found of Cad Bane in the databanks, twirling his pistol around his hand with a flourish before bolstering it.

"Show-off," Brye reprimanded good-naturedly.

"He's got both pieces now," Ahsoka said worriedly. Anakin to to his Captain.

"Rex, have a squad lock down the hangar bay and destroy the escape pods. I don't want anyone getting off this ship." 

"Yessir." He motioned for Execute squad to head down the corridor, relaying the instructions. "And while you're at it find us a ride off this rust bucket," he added.

"Will do, sir." The rest of Tempest gathered behind him as an explosion rocked the ship and an ominous creaking noise sounded through the hall. 

"What was _that?_" Rex asked uneasily. There was a reason that he preferred ground assault to space fighting. You couldn't die by opening a window, among many other benefits. 

_"General Skywalker." _Yularen's voice filtered over the comm. _"One of the engines on that frigate has exploded. I strongly suggest you avoid the act section._" 

"No kidding," Ahsoka muttered.

"How much damage is there?" Anakin asked, ignoring the outburst.

_"I fully recommend immediate evacuation."_

"Not until we get what we came for." He logged off the comm. "We'd better get to the detention level as quickly as possible."

"No argument here, sir," Hardcase replied. 


	21. Jedi's Bane II

Rex had seen plenty of nasty deaths, but this one was up there on the list of the worst ones. Master Ropal's Rodian skin was a vibrant green, but his fingers were unnaturally blue. Burns covered his face and singed his robes in multiple places, and his starry eyes were blankly staring at the ceiling. Ahsoka was visibly shaken by it, and Skywalker displayed an unusual degree of sensitivity. 

"Rex, have some men take Master Ropal's body back to the _Resolute_," he said quietly while placing a comforting hand on his Padawan's shoulder. 

"We might not be able to find the holocron in time, Master," she said resignedly, looking up at him. "But... if it's destroyed with the ship, then Nute Gunray won't get it either."

"Maybe, but I'd rather return it to the library _personally_." Rex he seen that look in his eyes before. This wasn't just about the mission anymore. It was also about getting justice.

The ship rocked to the right and they all stumbled as the lights went out. Artoo turned his light on and rolled ahead of them down the hallway, but the illumination was still bad. They could hardly see anything in the pitch darkness. After a few minutes Artoo let out a series of beeps.

"Artoo says we're getting close," Skywalker said. "Stay sharp." Rex followed directly after Ahsoka and ran right into a pipe that she'd skillfully avoided. He tasted blood in his mouth as he bit into his cheek, nose throbbing from slamming against the inside of his helmet.

"Ow!"

"Well that wasn't very observant," Brye commented unhelpfully.

"Switch to night vision," Rex growled as he put his rangefinder down. Everything being filtered through the HUD screen came back as yellowish-green in color, including Brye's helmet. 

"Did you not get your caf this morning? I'm told sleep deprivation makes people clumsy."

"You're never going to let me live this down, are you?"

"I don't think _anyone _will. It'll be one of the things you're known for when people hear your name."

"I could strangle you right now and regret nothing." They saw something moving further down the hall and gave chase. It wasn't a droid and Rex didn't believe in ghosts, so he assumed that it was Bane. The Bounty Hunter led them into a pitch black room. The lights flicked on and continued down the length of the hangar... and continued... and continued... revealing rank upon rank of battle droids. 

"Welcome, Jedi. We've been expecting you." Bane's voice was raspy, irritating. It only made Rex dislike him more. "Kill them!" The droids began firing and Rex's men opened fire. They were incredibly exposed in their position, so Ahsoka went on the defensive to deflect as many of the bolts away from them as possible while Anakin went after the bounty hunter. 

Bane smiled as the Jedi neared.

"Let's make this a bit more interesting," he said before snapping an order at his tin soldiers. "Lock down!"

"I don't like the sound of _that,_" Brye growled. Rex suddenly felt his feet drift away from the ground and realized that everyone else was headed for the ceiling too. 

"Anti-grav," a rookie named Hitch cursed over the comm. "Blasted bounty hunter's turned off the gravitational generators!" 

"Magnetics!" Denal snapped in response, his voice full of seasoned authority. "You were trained for this!" 

Most of the troopers locked on to the ceiling bulkhead, but Rex was lucky enough to grab onto a bit of fuel piping and land lower down on the top of a cannon. Anakin and Ahsoka were practically swimming through the air deflecting blaster bolts with graceful sweeps and lunges. It was really quite pretty to look at if you had the time, which Rex didn't. 

A droid went flying into the wall and knocked an ammunition charge for the cannons loose, and it drifted through the space. 

"Check your fire!" Rex reprimanded testily. "Hit one of those shells and this fight is over for all of us!" 

"Sorry sir!" Hardcase apologized from his position on the ceiling with the repeating blaster. 

"We're easy targets floating around," Denal grunted. He shot a cable into the floor and reeled himself back down to the ground. Some of the other airborne troopers followed his example, and Rex was reminded that, even though he still viewed Denal as a rookie, the trooper was one of the most experienced individuals present. A lot could change in a few short months. 

The gravity turned back on courtesy of Artoo, and Anakin and Bane's fight over the holocron was partially interrupted. Bane bought time for his escape by shooting the ceiling out from under Hardcase's boots. The shiny yelped as he began plummeting toward the ground, but he was slowed by the General. Rex saw Ahsoka run out of the hangar after the bounty hunter and watched Anakin chase after. It was the last thing he could see clearly before a bright bloom of explosion tore through the area in a wave of heat and raw pulsing energy. 

Rex was thrown from his perch on the Cannon and landed heavily on his left leg, not quite being able to restrain a cry of pain as some ligament or muscle or whatever tore. Brye was suddenly in between him and the remaining droids like a savage avenging angel, racing into them and ripping their chassis apart with blasterfire at close range. Pieces of shrapnel from the carnage flew everywhere, and Rex ducked to make sure that some of it didn't come smashing through his visor. Brye was panting slightly as he rushed back, grabbed him under the left shoulder, and hauled him to his feet whilst draping the arm across his neck to support the weight and take it off the injured leg.

"How badly are you hurt?" He asked worriedly. Rex gingerly pressed down on his left leg and hissed through clenched teeth. It wasn't too bad, more like an annoying inconvenience. 

"Nothing I can't handle. I can walk on my own." 

"If you say so." Rex took a cursory glance around and felt his stomach drop into his boots.

"Jesse, where's the General?" He asked. 

"Under or on the other side of the debris," Jesse replied worriedly. There were troopers already trying to dig through the mess. Rex limped over and began helping. Brye followed him as if he were his shadow. 

They paused in their progress when a deep whining rumble sounded somewhere on the other side, along with a massive thud as whatever it was crashed back to the floor.

"General Skywalker!" Rex called out. "Are you all right in there?" 

"Yeah, I'm all right." His voice sounded muffled. There was a lot of damage between him and them. "Look, get to the hangar and find a transport. I'm going after Ahsoka, so wait for us as long as you can."

"We're on it, sir!" He heard the General trying to contact his Padawan as he turned away. "You heard him, boys. Let's move." They headed for the door at the far end of the room. "And Brye, I'm fine. You can stand a little farther away from me because I don't plan on collapsing anytime soon." Brye just moved stubbornly from behind him to at his side. Rex sighed. 

As they neared the hangar the sound of blasterfire got louder. Running out into the area they joined with the rest of Execute squad, who were determinedly firing from cover near the door. 

"All units, make for that shuttle!" Rex ordered. 

"What do you think we've been _trying _to do!?" Tor growled. He was the head of the Executes and lived up to the reputation of the surly mechanic stereotype. 

"My apologies," Rex replied sarcastically. "I assumed you were sight-seeing." Tor glanced over his shoulder and almost dropped his weapon.

"Oh, sorry Captain. I thought you were someone else."

"Just get on the ship." Rex's comm chirped. 

_"Captain, the main reactor's exposed and will implode at any moment."_

"Yessir, we're making our way to the shuttle as we speak sir." 

_"Get out of there!"_

"Sir yessir!" Rex replied respectfully while gritting his teeth. The line went static. "Because we were relaxing before you gave us the helpful advice..."

"Gotta love admirals," Tor muttered. 

"I'm still annoyed with you."

"Sorry." Rex turned to two other troopers, Tarral and Zodiac.

"You two. Go find the General and see if he needs help. If you don't find him within three minutes get back here as fast as you can. This ship's coming apart at the seams."

"Will do, sir." They took off, and Rex felt he could focus all his attention on getting to the shuttle for the first time since entering the hangar. They fought their way onto the ramp and had a hard time maintaining that position. The droids wanted to leave, too. 

_"Rex, I hope you found us a ride off this bucket!" _Anakin shouted over the comm.

"Yessir, but we have to leave now. The reactor's gonna blow and we can't spare any more time. We can't wait!" Rex replied pointedly, ducking as a shot flew by mere centimeters from his head. He felt the heat sear the side of his helmet. 

_"Well, you'll have to. I'm going after the bounty hunter."_

"But-" the line went dead. He sighed. "Typical." 

"Is he _crazy!?_" Echo asked. 

"No, he just has a bad case of tunnel vision," Ailen sighed resignedly. 

"Go prep the engines," Rex ordered. 

"Be glad to. Denal, coming with?"

"Wouldn't miss the opportunity to be your co-pilot." They disappeared further into the vessel and the bulkheads shuddered as the engines turned on. Anakin and Ahsoka came rushing through the door and leapt onto the ramp. Rex moved farther inside as they started to lift off, pausing to pick up Tarral from the balcony deck. He'd managed to shoot Bane, but it looked like the effort had cost him.

"Did you get the holocron?" Anakin asked. The trooper shook his head as he moved into the ship, clutching his arm at the elbow joint.

"No, sir." 

"I'll get it, master." Ahsoka was about ready to leap back out of the ship, and Rex came to the conclusion that all Jedi were certifiably crazy.

"There's no time," Anakin pointed out. "Rex, get us out of here."

"Ailen? You heard the man. Punch it!"

"Well you don't have to tell me twice. We were cutting it fine as it is." They fled the scene, and the Separatist ship promptly exploded behind them. 

"Rex?" Brye said quietly. Rex noted the red flashing light in his HUD telling him that this was a private conversation between the two of them. 

"Yeah?"

"You know I only watched after you like that because I was worried, right? You're my brother. I just... I can't imagine losing you." Rex glanced at Brye and gave a slight nod.

"Yeah, I know."

Upon landing in the hangar Echo ran out to find Fives, who grabbed him in a tight but quick embrace before they separated and walked side by side out of the hangar. 

"Wish I was still that close with someone," Ailen murmured under his breath from where he'd paused near the ramp, watching them.

"Who says you aren't?" Denal asked as he slipped next to him. "You're the first person I look for when I get left behind on a mission when you come back." Ailen smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, vod." His gaze flickered to their injured rookie. "Tarral, nice job frying that bounty hunter." He moved off of the ship and Denal paused to acknowledge the rest of them before following.

"Let's get some grub. Hungry?" 

"I'll catch up," Tor muttered, waving the rest of them on. He was staring at something on the floor.

"What _is _that?" Rex asked, sitting back on his heels to get a better look before abruptly straightening. "General! Something in here you should see!" Anakin walked in and frowned when he spotted the green goo, bending down to dab at it with his fingers. 

"It's blood, sir. And unless we're secretly cloned from a shapeshifter it sure isn't from any of us."

"Bane," Anakin growled. "Who was the last one on board?" 

"That'd be Tarral, sir," Tor answered quickly. A look of realization crossed his face. "Unless..." 

"Sleemo faked his own death and took a set of armor for his escape," the general surmised. He rose back to a standing position. "We have to find him. Hurry!" They raced out of the stolen vessel in time to see Bane in Tarral's armor make run for it across the deck. He leapt into a fighter and Anakin landed on the wing. They struggled for a few moments before the Jedi was thrown off, and the conscripted fighter locked into a hyperspace ring before taking off. 

"Guess we're headed back to Corscant," Skywalker sighed. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"-And that's how it happened," Rex finished. He was in the officer's mess with Cody and a few other of their brothers from different battalions. 

"That sounded wild from start to finish," Ponds commented, shaking his head and downing something liquid and orange that smelled suspiciously like alcohol. 

"That's just how Skywalker operates," Cody sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced at Rex with a look of incredulity. "How you manage to stay sane dealing with him I'll never know."

"Who said I was sane to begin with?" Rex countered pointedly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you watch the show with subtitles or go looking, you'll notice that in the actual show Denal was the one who Bane was supposed to kill and steal the armor off of. Since he only officially appeared in two episodes and was only mentioned once by name I changed the person who died to a similar name in Tarral. I did this because I have plans for Denal in the future and had forgotten that he'd died at the beginning of season two. Please forgive me for incongruity. :/


	22. Aggressive Negotiations

"You have to lean into it," Rex advised. "You have to _want _it." Ahsoka glowered up at him from where she was slowly being pressed backward. Rex had their durasteel poles locked together after she had unsuccessfully tried to take a swing at his neck, and he wasn't taking any chances. He'd seen the little Togruta behead battle droids as if she were cutting through grain stalks and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of her swings.

"I _am!_" She growled, frustrated. 

"Why don't we take a break?" Rex suggested patiently. Ahsoka held the block for a few more moments before giving a short, desperate shove that didn't even cause him to shift his center of balance. After that she dropped her pole and sat on a packing crate with a defeated huff. Rex hesitated a few moments before sitting next to her.

Ahsoka grabbed her water bottle and took a sip, dripping some into her hand and rubbing it over the back of her neck. Her silvery blue short-sleeve training tunic seemed to hang from her scrawny frame, and she leaned forward enough that he could see the sharp outline of her clavicle bones. Rex took out a nutrition bar and tossed it to her. 

"Here. Eat." She eyed him dubiously but opened the loud packaging, gave a suspicious sniff, and then took a small bite. She looked at him in surprise and then began wolfing it down. Rex smiled. "You like it, then."

"Where did you get this?" She mumbled, mouth full. He shrugged.

"Grateful civilian company on a job about a week or two ago. Whole of Torrent got twelve containers worth to share. You're welcome to some." Ahsoka shook her head. 

"No, those are yours. I can't do that." 

"You were out on that cliff-face with the rest of us," Rex reasoned. "You earned them just like my boys did." He took a swig of his water and tossed her another bar. "And Force knows you need the calories." Ahsoka shoved it into a bag and gave him a halfhearted smile. 

"Yeah... I just haven't had much of an appetite lately." She bit her lip. "I just... my martial skills might need some work but I've really been progressing with my ability to call on the Force. About a week ago I- I felt my first death." 

"What does that mean?" Rex asked quietly. He had a feeling that he knew _exactly _what that implied. Ahsoka's slim shoulders hunched and she reluctantly met his gaze. When she did her eyes were brimming with tears. 

"I um... I was standing in a plaza while we were clearing out that city on Balmorra. Uno was right next to me. The area was supposed to be the staging ground and the medical outpost so it was 'secure.' An anti-aircraft round blew a big crater in the square not five feet from where we were. He turned to me with this big smile on his face and said that that was a lucky miss. Next thing I knew he was staring at the sky with a hole burned through his forehead. I _felt_ his spirit leave his body. His life ebb away. It lasted milliseconds, but... I felt it. And after that I _kept _feeling it. Every time one of our boys dies on the battlefield I know. I can't turn it off." Her voice cracked, and Rex's heart broke with it. She was _fourteen._ Most girls her age were anxious about their first fleeting crush, and here she was in the middle of a warzone learning how to let people she cared about die.

"Have you talked to Master Skywalker?" He asked, making a conscious effort to include 'Master' in there to draw on the fact that this was the kind of thing the man was there for. Ahsoka shook her head. 

"I don't know what to say." He put his hand on her shoulder and gave a light comforting squeeze, and she responded by burying her face in the light silvery blue fabric of his sleeveless loose-fitting training tunic. 

"Umm... okay." He brought his arms around her and held her close, running his hand down her lekku and letting her cry. "It's okay. It's okay. You're okay. You'll get through this."

"I'm just so, _so_ scared," she whimpered. This was so different from the sassy spitfire that usually paraded around that Rex wasn't entirely sure how to react. He just kept stroking her lekku and murmuring soothing tones. 

"Well," he finally said softly, "I don't plan on going anywhere for a long while. I'll always be here if you need me." 

"Thanks. For always having my back." 

"No problem, vod'ika." It was out of his mouth before he realized he'd said it, and he felt his face burn red with embarrassment as she pulled away just enough to look at him in curiosity. 

"'Vod'ika?'" She echoed. "What does that mean?" 

"Kid," he deflected a little too quickly. She managed a smirk. 

"I thought that was ad'ika," she pointed out. 

"What, Mandos can't have two different words with the same meaning?" 

"Fine. If you won't tell me I'll just ask someone else." 

"Little sister," Rex mumbled, embarrassed.

"Sorry, what?" 

"It means 'little sister,'" Rex repeated more loudly with a defeated sigh. Ahsoka's eyes were two large orbs of pleasantly surprised blue. 

" ...Oh," she said quietly. Then she smiled, and that surprised him. She ran her fingers mischievious down his bare arm before reaching a point that seemed to satisfy her in terms of tenderness for a punch. An involuntary shudder enveloped his entire body at the movement and her eyes narrowed. His widened in fear. 

"You're ticklish, aren't you?" She asked.

"N-no." 

"You are. I can tell." She ran her fingers down his arm again and he shuddered, again involuntarily. He squirmed to get away but it was too late. She pounced on him, aiming for the stomach with dancing fingers and laughing. He yelped and fell onto the floor. They rolled over the laminate surface as he tried to break free and she pressed the attack, and it didn't stop even when Echo and Jesse walked into the room. They froze.

"What-" Jesse began, but Rex interrupted him.

"She knows!" He gasped as she determinedly tried to get at his stomach again, but he had curled up into a tight ball with his legs tucked against his chest. She went for his bare feet instead and he regretted taking his boots off. "Save yourselves! Nothing is safe anymore!" 

"I'm out!" Echo exclaimed as he swung on his foot and high-tailed it.

"Right behind you!" Jesse was quite literally on his younger brother's heels as they fled down the corridor. 

"'Soka, stop. Please. I'm begging you. Please. Please, stop!" She somehow got at the inner side of the elbow and he let out an undignified shriek. "'Soka!"

They went rolling across the floor again- Rex in death spasms and Ahsoka having the time of her life- before they smacked into something solid. Anakin let out a very loud "oof!" before he went sprawling on the floor next to them. Ahsoka abruptly broke away from Rex as her Master sat up, looking incredibly bewildered. 

"Can someone explain what was going on just now?" He mumbled, feeling the back of his head with a wince. 

"Perfect timing as always General Skywalker," Rex coughed. He was lying flat on his back, energy temporarily spent and wheezing as he tried to get his breath. "Your Padawan tried to kill me." 

"Rex is very susceptible to the artistic torture of tickling," Ahsoka explained breezily. She jabbed at his exposed stomach one last time and he curled into a ball, warily facing her in case she struck again. Anakin started laughing. 

"Seriously?" He asked. Rex nodded, afraid to unwind his body. "Are _all of you _ticklish?"

"_Very_." He rolled over onto his stomach and rested his chin on his arms, brown eyes flickering from the Knight to the Padawan and back again. He didn't trust either of them not to go in for the killing blow at the moment. Both were equally capable. Anakin was still laughing. 

"Relax, Rex. Your secret's safe with us. _Right, _Snips?" Ahsoka shrugged.

"Sure. Doesn't mean I won't use that knowledge to my advantage though." 

"Uh huh." Rex hesitated a few moments before army-crawling to relative safety. Nothing was sacred and everyone was a potential enemy. 


	23. The Scarlet Plateau I

"I never wanted to lay eyes on this dust ball again," Brye muttered darkly as they stared out the viewport at the red and brown surface below. 

"You never talk about it," Rex remarked carefully. 

"Yeah? Well..." Brye undid the left clasp holding his chest and back plates together and then pulled his bodysuit collar as far down as it would go, revealing a network of deep interlacing burn and shrapnel scars that started from just below the neckline and didn't seem to have a visible end. " ...I don't exactly have happy memories of this place."

"How-"

"After you disappeared Chester, Aeric, Teri, and I went looking for a Gdan warren to wait out the bombardment in. We got lost in a network of caves, with Geonosians. Barely made it out." Brye shot Rex a sidelong glance at his helmet and fixated on his Jaig Eyes. "You don't exactly talk about your little solo adventure here either, but Mandos don't give those things out for helping tourists with map directions, so what exactly _did _happen to you the first time around?" 

Rex swallowed; unpleasant memories that still haunted his dreams and made him start in a cold sweat in the middle of the night were threatening to plague him during the day. 

"It's too fresh," he murmured. "It's right along with Teth on things I can't talk about." 

Jesse made a rude gesture out the viewplate window toward the planet as he walked past. Kix copied it. 

"I'm guessing you've all got fond memories of this place then," Ailen commented with a raise of his eyebrow. 

"How many of you were here the first time?" A shiny asked. Kix, Jesse, Brye, Rex, and several men from the 212th and 21st Nova Corps raised their hands. "Wow, okay. A lot more veterans than I was thinking there would be." 

"Why do you think we lobbied for the camo armor so badly?" Jet asked, twirling about in a full 360° turn to show off his plates. Cody glanced up from his datapad and then went back to what he was doing.

"I just assumed you were into the latest trends," he replied sarcastically. 

"Being fashion savvy can save lives," Jaden commented pointedly as he walked past. The 212th medic was as grumpy as ever. 

"We'd better get up to the Bridge," Jet said, looking at his fellow officers. "They should be about done with their briefing by now."

The three of them set off for command and walked onto the Bridge just as the briefing ended, the holograms of Masters Yoda and Windu along with the Chancellor flickering into thin air. Kenobi glanced up from the virtual landscape and gave a small nod. 

"Good, Cody." He pointed to a highlighted square of the terrain. "These are the coordinates for the rendezvous?"

"Yessir," Cody affirmed. "We'll hit the ground and create a perimeter, but we have to get past their defenses here." He pointed at a dotted red line. "That's going to be the real problem. General Mundi's forces will move to attack the defensive lines to the north, while we make our assault straight down the middle. That leaves General Skywalker to tackle the defensive lines to the south, and then we can meet at the rendezvous at oh seven hundred exactly."

"Like that's gonna happen," Jet scoffed over an internal comm frequency. Mundi arched a bushy white eyebrow at his commander.

"If we meet with strong resistance and are forced down away from the landing zone, we should hold out to join our forces before attacking the shield generator," he suggested pointedly.

"I swear he's telepathic sometimes," Jet sighed. There was a slight beep as Cody intruded into the conversation.

"What are you two talking about?" He asked curiously.

"Jet was complaining about the omniscience of his General," Rex explained in what clones called a 'shrugging tone.' He was at parade rest, stock still, but if he were allowed to move he'd be letting a shrug accompany his words. 

"Sorry I asked..." Ahsoka was studying the hologram. 

"Their front lines are heavily fortified," she ventured. "See that faint wall with all the gun emplacements? That's not gonna be easy to get past." Rex studied the flickering blue image, gaze resting on the angry red outline of the wall. 

"Don't worry," Skywalker assured with an easing smile. "We won't be going anywhere near that."

"Come now, what happened to all the enthusiasm I saw earlier?" Kenobi chirped sarcastically. The two of them wandered off into another of their little spats and the three clones ignored them.

"For _my _sake I hope that's true," Rex muttered. "I don't fancy playing with the other kids in the sandbox." 

"It doesn't look _too _fortified," Cody offered. "Fifty, at most."

"Geonosis is full of tunnels and warrens," Jet growled. "I know you weren't here the first time around, so I'm gonna warn you. One thing you can count on, in fact the _only _thing, is that the odds are always much longer than they seem. Much _much _longer." 

"The rock formations mess with the thermal scans and the sand corrupts the sensors," Rex elaborated. Cody was silent, and from the slight shift in the angle of his neck Rex could tell that he was processing the information. 

_"Gentleman..."_ General Luminara Unduli's voice had a meaningful edge behind it as she tactfully berated Anakin and Obi-wan. _"If you are quite finished, we have a battle to begin."_

"Quite right," Kenobi apologized. As he started walking out of the room Unduli's holographic form dissolved into thin air. "Cody, prep the gunships. I'll meet you in the hangar."

"Yessir." Mundi nodded at Jet, and he followed on his fellow Commander's heels. 

"We'll be right behind you, Rex. Just need to pack some provisions," Skywalker said. 

"We'll be ready and waiting," Rex assured. He headed for the hangar to finish supervising departure preparations and watched quite a few gunships lift off. Cody caught his gaze and gave him a thumbs up before jumping into the hold of a LAAT/i and heading out. 

"Did you ever think we'd be coming back here?" Jesse asked. Rex shook his head.

"Never in my most twisted nightmares."

"We all ready, Rex?" Anakin asked. 

"Yessir." He paused a moment to put his helmet back on. "Kenobi's already underway." Skywalker shrugged.

"So he's got a head start. We'll just have to catch up." The bay doors slid shut and they lifted off. For about fifteen seconds there was total peace and silence aside from the roar of the engines. Rex couldn't help but run his free hand self-consciously over the right side of his helmet, and he noted that Anakin's mechanical hand was flexing open and closed repeatedly. Rex closed his eyes, expecting to feel the cold rush of adrenaline and not being disappointed when it hit. 

He loved a good fight. He'd been bred for it, conditioned for it, and more than that it was in his blood. His Mandalorian genes were descended from a long, proud line of warrior ancestors. And yes, he'd used some of his spare time to find everything he could about them. Fighting was... pure. It was just him, his blaster, and the enemy in front of him in those moments of adrenal clarity. Even though he knew that some of his brothers wouldn't be coming back- maybe it would be _him _not coming back- he found himself eagerly anticipating a good brawl. 

He didn't feel that way right then. All he could think of was how much white armor was buried under the eternally shifting sand. This feeling was dread, and Rex was surprised by how it felt. He was suddenly struck by the revelation that he'd never really dreaded anything before. The feeling was ugly. It was a knot in the pit of his stomach, an insistent nagging at the back of his mind. He _dreaded _this planet and couldn't wait to leave it behind for good. But at the moment... 

The whine of non-Republic fighters sped by the gunship, and the chassis rocked violently from a close explosion. Another one followed, and then a decisive blow was landed on their left wing. The ship lurched hard to that side before the pilot cut the right engine a bit to even out the descent. Either way, they were going down hard. Rex followed procedure and began shouting into his comlink.

"Cody, Jet! Either of you copy? We're hit. Going down. Location, 5-" 

**_"Brace brace brace!" _**Jesse shouted. Rex had just enough time to throw himself in between Ahsoka and the door before they hit. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The first thing that came back to him was sense of feel. Everything hurt, there was something heavy pressing against his spine, and something small and soft was curled into a tight ball between his chest and the floor of the gunship. 

The second thing that came back to him was sense of temperature. The heat was stifling, the air thick. He inhaled and started coughing, his helmet filters kicking in to weed out the tissue-damaging smoke. He could smell it now. _Third thing. _It was a mix of smoldering wreckage and burning transport fuel, potent and noxious. 

Fourth, sight. Blurry outlines resolved into shadows and colors. Shapes took on poorly-defined outlines. Orange dust-laden light slanted in through the slats in the door. The soft bundle shifted underneath him as Ahsoka unfolded her legs and struggled out from under his arms. Rex sat up abruptly, immediately regretting it as the world started swimming. There was a part of his back that blazed like fire, and he hissed at the sharp pain. He shifted forward to put weight back onto his kneecaps instead of his heels once again, and the back plate felt loose. Warped, maybe. It had definitely been a hard blow. 

Fifthly, and lastly, hearing. General Skywalker was shouting at them to get out of the corpse of the larty before the Geonosians found their position. Rex stumbled to his feet and was out in the red desert at the head of the group of survivors, looking for more. They hid behind a section of the durasteel hull as green warbling fire sprayed the area.

"Here they come," Rex said. "Watch it, watch it!" The fighting was fierce, but manageable. It felt more like twelve seconds rather than twelve minutes. Finally the opposing ordnance petered out.

"They're falling back!" Ahsoka informed. "Let's go!" They made their way out into the exposed middle of a wide stretch of plateau, headed for cliffs. A gunship touched down and then took off again after letting its passengers out. 

"You should have continued to the rendezvous!" Rex barked irritably over the strafing fire from enemy fighters. Brye shrugged. 

"I wasn't about to get separated from you a second time on this Force-forsaken rock." A pod ship got a little too close for comfort and the larty's gunner fired off a direct hit. They all hit the dirt as shrapnel rained from the sky. 

"Besides, the vote was unanimous. None of us wanted to head for the rendezvous without a full contingent."

"One of these days I'm gonna haul off and smack you one." 

"We need to get out of here before the Bugs show up!" Kix shouted. He was bending over an injured trooper behind the scant cover of a boulder, hands pressed against the man's side. Rex could see the blood oozing out from between the gloved fingers and staining the field medic's gauntlet plates. 

"Any suggestions?" Brye asked. 

"We just need to get sheltered. Too many casualties out here in the open. If we're forced to fight on the ground while evading the air we'll be mincemeat in minutes." 

"Let's collect the rest of our forces and get out of here," Rex suggested. He tried to go straight from a push-up into a starting run but crouched back down on one knee, yelping as pain shot through his spine. 

"What did you do?" Kix exclaimed, running over. He shoved his hands underneath the back plate and put pressure right on the injury. 

"What about Tarro?" Rex mumbled, gritting his teeth. 

"Blood loss. Nothing I could do. He was gone as of twenty seconds ago."

"Least it was quick."

"I can take a guess at what's messed up with your back. Nothing I can do about it but tell you to take a painkiller and a numbing agent."

"I prefer to feel my fingers when I'm pulling the trigger, but thanks."

"Just the painkiller, then. Hold still." Kix pried off one of his thigh plates and peeled back a section of his bodysuit to expose bare skin, gripping a painkiller. He stabbed it directly into a large muscle grouping and then replaced the armor. Taking out a marker he wrote the shorthand initial for the drug on the armor plate. 

"That's better," Rex sighed. He could already feel the pain ebbing away. As he stood it seemed to melt, and when they began running he felt as if he hadn't even been injured. His comlink began beeping, and he transferred it to his helmet.

"Yeah?"

_"You guys alright out there?"_ Jet asked without preamble. 

"Had a rough start out of the gate but we're getting through. You?" 

_"We just about pulled through. Mundi's pretty roughed up by the crash. Lucky it wasn't too serious. What's the situation?"_

"Hit pretty hard. Tanks were decimated in-air, and we're doing our best to take cover in some canyons but it's a battle in and of itself to get there. Now that I know the comms aren't jammed I'll try and get Cody on the line. See if we can't get some support. If we're lucky our groups will meet up on the way to the rendezvous."

_"When have we ever been that lucky?"_

"I don't know. I haven't experienced it yet."

_" ...I've got to check in with the General. See you soon, ner vod. In _person."

"You can count on it." The line fizzled out, and Rex sighed. The cliff was still a ways away. He saw something wet slide over the t-slit of his helmet and dabbed at it with his fingers. They came away red. Rex looked up and his stomach flipped. There, hanging from the branches of a scrawny, dead tree was a trooper. His helmet lay upturned on the ground below him, near Rex's boot. Eyes were wide in terror, neck snapped at an odd angle. The blood was dripping from his mouth, which was open in a silent, eternal scream. 

Rex tripped over his feet as he ran for all he was worth, visions of the first campaign snapping at his heels.


	24. The Scarlet Plateau II

It seemed as if the entire world were falling apart. Rocks exploded in bristling chips, smashing through one trooper's t-slit and driving themselves through his skull. Rex had to look away to keep it together. The body in the tree had rattled him. 

They crouched low in a dell and waited out the bombardment, relatively sheltered for once by an overhang. Another blast came a bit too close for comfort. Hardcase, who had been uncharacteristically silent for once, walked over to a shiny who had begun shivering. He had curled up with his back against a rock and pressed his legs against his chest, trying to control it. 

"You okay kid?" Hardcase asked kindly. The rookie shook his head. 

"You got a name?" 

"T-Tup."

"Well, I'm Hardcase. This your first battle?" Tup nodded. "What a place to start your career, huh?" 

" ...Yeah."

"Shiny makes it out of this, he can join the Old Guard for a hand of sabacc any time," Denal muttered. "Honestly, I hope _I _make it out of this." 

"You can relax, Den," Brye said. "This is much better than last time." 

"That's not very comforting." 

" ...It isn't, is it?" 

"Well, _that _certainly isn't," Fives growled. Rex turned around and followed his arm to where he was pointing. There was a giant wall in their path. 

"Oh, no..." Rex murmured. 

"It doesn't look too bad," Hardcase reasoned. The bombardment ended and they ventured out into the canyon. Immediately the gun turrets started up and sent out a heavy volley. "I spoke too soon." 

"We're gonna run out of overhang real fast sir!" Rex called out. Anakin, who had his back pressed against the wall a few people down, nodded.

"Ya think!?"

"We need to take it down!" Ahsoka suggested. Anakin jumped, apparently not realizing that she had been right next to him. 

The overhang began to crumble under the heavy fire, and there was an ominous crack.

"We'll be safer chancing it in the canyon," Rex muttered.

"Is that the best option?" Ahsoka countered doubtfully. "We'll be far too exposed." 

"Not if we take up residence farther back from the fortress." 

"Well, I don't hear any better ideas and we're running out of time," Skywalker decided. "We're moving." 

The overhang gave another crack and began to buckle. 

"Then we'd better do it now."

"Agreed." The Jedi raised his voice. "Pull out, pull back, and find cover as best you can!" Plenty of 'yessirs' responded as they made a mass exodus out from under the rock. It collapsed a few minutes later. 

"That was a close one," Brye rasped. Rex listened to his breathing for a few moments and made an educated guess at thinking that he probably had a couple of bruised ribs. 

"Take a painkiller," he ordered before moving to a new vantage point. Hardcase was sticking close to Tup, making sure he got through it all. Rex decided now was as good a time as any to get a measure of the trooper while they were still regrouping... especially since Anakin and Ahsoka were covering their tactical retreat. 

"Sometimes you just have to take a step back and get a breather," Hardcase was saying as Rex scrambled in next to them in their hiding place. He nearly got his head shot off in the process. 

"You okay soldier?" He asked. Tup started, coming to attention as best he could as he crouched. 

"Sir!" 

"Relax, shiny," Hardcase soothed. He turned to his commanding officer, leaning on one elbow as he lay prone behind a rock. "So... Rex, how are we getting out of this one again?" 

"You can't call him by name," Tup said suddenly, obviously shocked. "That's against protocol." Rex chuckled to himself while Hardcase explained exactly where he could shove his protocol, cycling through several static comm channels in search of a secure open line. He found one.

"Cody, you there? Cody? Come on, I know you can hear me. Respond."

_"This better be good," _Cody growled. He was definitely irritated. _"I'm in a hot-zone waiting for _you _slackers to show up and I've got a missing General who could be anywhere on my hands."_

"So that's a negative on getting reinforcements from you, then."

_"Work it out for yourself."_

"Touch-_y_. Well, we'll be punctually late. Meet you at the landing site."

_"Please hurry. I don't know how much longer I can hold them off on my own." _

"Okay, Cody. I'll have a word with Skywalker."

"What's this word we're having?" Anakin asked as he and Ahsoka dove behind Rex's rock. "Can Obi-wan send support or not?"

"That's a negative, sir. Cody says General Kenobi never made it to the landing site. Gunship got shot down."

"Great," Skywalker muttered. "One time I actually need Obi-wan's help and he's nowhere to be found."

"What if something happened to General Kenobi?" Ahsoka fretted. "He could be injured, or-"

"Hey hey hey, no time for that kind of talk," Anakin scolded. He turned back to his captain.

"Rex, we need to mobilize. Right now. Get the men together, and we're gonna rush the guns."

"Yessir!"

"You can put me in charge of that," Hardcase volunteered. "I love making things blow up."

"Great, you're with me then," Ailen said as he and Denal headed toward one of the hive-like turret towers. 

"Steady on," Rex chastised. "We're all in this together. 

"Sorry sir."

"We're all here, sir!" Rex said as the last of the stragglers showed up. 

"Now!" Anakin was never really one for plans. They leapt over the rocky embankment of a perpetually dried riverbed and out onto the flat surface of the wide canyon.

"Go! Go go go!" Rex shouted. He could have said 'take take take' like they did in training but it wasted too much time rolling out of the mouth.

"Take 'em out!" Brye added. Take 'em _all _out!" They took out the towers and kept moving, heading down a new and- at the moment- deserted canyon ravine. Without any immediate danger Rex could hear things more clearly as the blood stopped thundering in his ears. There was a distinct whir that troubled him. He'd heard it before. 

"General, I think we've ended up at that barrier again," he warned. In the split moment it took Skywalker to register his words the whining of the gun turrets powering up had been replaced by their blooming as they started firing again. 

"I think you're right..."

"Gentlemen, careful!" Rex shouted. It was Torrent Company's own private code order to scatter. He dove behind some boulders, realizing that they were what remained of the overhang from earlier. Anakin and Ahsoka were on his heels.

"This is another fine mess you've gotten us into!" Ahsoka said sarcastically. 

"What!? Hey, it's not my fault!" Rex carried on directing his men to better cover with hand signals and the internal comm and pointedly ignored their spat. "You were the one who was supposed to study the holomaps!" 

"Hardcase, better find another boulder kid..." 

"That's okay, sir. I'm comfy right here."

"I _did! _Remember? When I reminded you about the_ giant. wall. _and you said 'don't worry, Snips! We won't be going _anywhere near that'?_" 

"It's a gdan warren of tunnels around here," Rex said helpfully. "We could spend hours in here and _still _end up where we started." Skywalker ignored his comment, still irritated with his Padawan. 

"Just get ready to climb!" He snapped at her. They darted across the open space of the ravine and joined up with a larger group. 

"I need dets!" The General ordered. Unsurprisingly, both Ailen and Hardcase had them in abundance. They took a reprieve to pack them into two backpacks and then continued firing again. 

"So what's the plan, General?" Rex asked.

"Just keep us covered. Too much laser fire for all of us to make the climb, Ahsoka and I will handle it. Be ready when that wall comes down." 

"Copy that." For the next few minutes- they felt more like hours- Rex concentrated on the gun turrets. When he saw the two lightsaber flashing across the top cutting down droids he had them change tactics.

"Focus on the droids on the top of the wall," he ordered. His men obliged. "It looks like they'll need some backup. Brye, Jesse! Keep 'em in line 'till I get back."

"No prob, Cap!" Brye replied. Even when he was serious he was still easy-going. Rex shot his ascension cable and began climbing, wondering where in their shared gene code the concession had been made for such a wide contradiction in personalities. 

By the time he got to the top the majority of the droids had been destroyed, save for a pair of rollies. Rex snuck up behind the one bothering Ahsoka, eased his blaster through its shield, and fired off a shot behind the head. It crumpled. Skywalker followed his example by sliding underneath and stabbing upward through the tripod legs. Things were going relatively smoothly, everything considered. They just had to get rid of the charges. 

"Did you get them?" A mechanically-nasal voice asked. The poor B1 suddenly found itself with two packs of detonators.

"Catch!" Anakin replied. He was almost in good humor as he force-shoved the droid back down into the bowels of the fortress "Come on, Rex."

"Up and away!" Ahsoka added. 

"W-wh-w-wait!" Rex helped as they sent him hurtling into the air. He hadn't often been subject to being manipulated by the Force, and so far none of the encounters had been pleasant. The two Jedi jumped after him as the wall exploded, sending rocks everywhere. 

He heard screaming and realized that he was the one doing it at the top of his lungs as the ground rushed to meet him, so he closed his eyes tight and waited for the ending splat. It never came. Just before he hit there was a jarring non-impact as Anakin and Ahsoka caught him, and then he was sprawled shaking uncontrollably face-down in the red soil. The wall came down around them but the Jedi deflected the debris away from them. 

"You guys all right over there?" Denal called worriedly. The entire area was obscured in a thick cloud of dust. 

"Next time just tell me to jump," Rex muttered as he took his general's proffered hand. The man smiled as he helped him up.

"Where's the fun in that?" Anakin replied promptly. "Come on. We can't keep Obi-wan waiting."

"You heard him, lads! Let's go!" Rex barked, face and ears burning with embarrassment. He could hear stifled laughter over the comm. Brye wasn't even trying.

"Nice set of lungs you've got there, ner vod."

"I'm never living that down, am I?" Rex sighed. 

"Nah. This and walking into that pipe? Never. Too good of comedic material to cast off." 

They ran out into a more open area, the plateau beckoning to them. Bright flashes of heat showed up on Rex's HUD along one of the nearby cliff-sides.

"What's that?" Ahsoka asked, pointing to the bright flashes. A blue lightsaber appeared in view.

"I believe you have your answer," Skywalker murmured as he got on his comm. "Master Mundi. Do you read me?"

_"I do. We took a slight detour which put us out of communications for a bit."_

"Well, this_ has _been a day for detours, Master."

_"Indeed. But now the way is clear, and I can see the landing site. It does not look good." _

"Can you get me Admiral Yularen?" Anakin asked, turning to Rex. He nodded, wincing at the movement it made on his spine. The painkillers were beginning to taper off. He switched his HUD to record and transmit to a secure line above on the cruisers, his wrist-communicator to relay the response, and then gave a thumbs-up. 

"Thanks. Admiral, we're at the breaking point. Could really use some fighters down here."

_"You're in luck, General Skywalker. I've got one squadron available." _

"Great. Skywalker out." 

There were blooming explosions off in the distance as they raced across the plateau, low-bombers on a strafing run flying ahead of them. 


	25. The Scarlet Plateau III

Rex was really beginning to hurt as they chased the last of the bugs off. Jet, who was in much better condition, led the charge. When they had a breather and time to regroup Rex limped over to stand beside Cody, who was looking the worse for wear. Obi-wan cleared his throat from where he was sitting on the ground, propped against some supply crates. 

"Our combined forces should be enough to destroy the shield generator," he said. His voice reverberated with pain as he gave a half-hearted point at the holomap. "Anakin, you'll need to take a small squad through the shield as close as you can get to the gun emplacements. From there, you can temporarily jam their scanners so that they can't detecting our incoming tanks. Once we knock out the shield Master Mundi can bring the rest of the troops in with the gunships."

"Consider it done, Master," Skywalker replied somewhat subduedly. His face was etched with a quiet worry as he looked at his former master. 

"Anyone specific you want on your team, General?" Rex asked, trying to hide his limp as they walked.

"I want you with Ahsoka and the remainder of our forces for the final push," Anakin said. "Aside from that... get me somebody who likes explosions."

"So that'll be Ailen, Hardcase, and that leaves eight more slots. Let's see... got some seasoned boys who've been itching for a tough assignment, and a pair of rookies. That should about do it." 

"Anything I need to know about these rookies before I take them out?" Skywalker asked. 

"Tup's a bit high-strung and tends to build up stress, but he'll do fine once you get into the thick of it. And Blitz... Let's just say he can be a bit scatter-brained. A sharp rebuke sets him right in an instant."

"Right."

"I'll round them up for you."

"Thanks. And Rex-" the captain paused as he'd begun to walk away- "I don't want you with Ahsoka because you're limping. It's because I think she'll need your expertise when it comes to coordinating the troops." 

"No, I know sir." 

"Good. I just wanted to clarify." Rex shook his head slightly and winced at the pain in his spine. He rummaged about in his belt pouches for his stims and then jabbed a painkiller into his leg through the bodysuit. Skywalker watched without comment. 

Rex took his leave and rounded up the men he had in mind for Skywalker's squad, sending them his way before going looking for Ahsoka. The pain was beginning to ebb when he spotted her across the makeshift square compound bordered by gunships, and he was able to walk with his back straight toward her. He noted Kix, helmet off, watching him with narrowed eyes. Rex sighed and made a point of putting the number two next to the mark for painkillers on his armor plate with exaggerated gestures. Kix was apparently satisfied because he turned his attention to someone else. 

Ahsoka looked up as he approached. 

"Hey, Rex. Sitting this one out?"

"Organization's a mess right now," Rex explained breezily. "Thought I'd be better suited helping you out than going with the General." 

"Uh huh."

"I swear."

"Would you swear to it in a court of law?"

"So how's the preparation going?"

"Rex." He rolled his eyes, then realized she couldn't see his face because he was still wearing his helmet. He settled for shrugging instead. 

"Look, Skywalker wanted me to help you with directing the men. I didn't fight him on it because I've got a spinal injury and really don't need any extra stress on it. I've got full confidence in your abilities, so the sooner we get this done the sooner we can get some well-earned rest. Deal?"

"Deal." Ahsoka rolled her eyes as she shook his hand. "Oh, aren't _we _official today?"

"Compliment accepted." 

A strong gust of hot, dusty red wind blew across the landscape and whipped Ahsoka's lekku sharply to the side. Rex's kama wrapped itself about his legs and tugged him slightly off-balance. A few unprepared rookies lost theirs completely and went tumbling down onto the ground, looking up with what Rex knew would be expressions of embarrassed alarm behind their deceptively impassive t-slit visors. 

"You get used to it," Jesse said apologetically as he grabbed one by the arm and hauled him to his feet. Kix looked up from bandaging someone else's arm, mouth muffled by the wad of gauze clamped between his teeth as the long strip of fabric got whipped by the wind.

"Shpeek fawr urshef," he retorted somewhat crossly. 

"Enough chatter," Rex said. "Let's get our munitions and artillery loaded into what's left of the gunships and make ready for the final push on that shield generator." He left Ahsoka to direct the operations from her perch on a supply crate and went to get down into the dirt with the rest of them. 

"You sure you should be lifting that with your back?" Brye asked, peering over the top of the container from the side he was holding.

"Yes, mother," Rex retorted sarcastically. Brye exhaled loudly through his nose, the sound crackling annoyingly through the helmet's external speakers. 

"Fine, have it your way," he grumbled. They moved the container into a larty and dropped it on an already present stack of crates. "What was in that, anyway?"

"Uh... oh, dets and launcher shells," Rex said, lifting the lid and peering in.

"And you let me _drop it!?"_

"I didn't know the contents either, ner vod." 

"But I-"

"Maybe you should take an anti-anxiety stim."

"_Now _you tell me..." 

Rex left Brye and Jesse as the two sergeants organized the troopers into gunships and went to update Ahsoka on their progress. Even while standing on the crate, she was level in height with him. She was short. 

"We ready to go?" She asked.

"Just about. Waiting for Jet to give me the signal to move out."

"We'd better find ourselves a larty then." 

They boarded and took off, hanging suspended for a few crucial moments before the shield generator was taken out. Then they were landing, and it was all dust and hot wind and scalding oil from the droids that they shot down. Bug splatter got everywhere, and when Rex stopped to breathe he found that he and his men were covered head to foot in a coating of red dirt. They trudged back to the new location for their encampment, exhausted. Fives was leaning heavily on Denal's shoulders, his left leg barely touching down before shooting back into the air again as if he had been burned. 

Rex tallied their casualties and losses once things had settled down; at first there was heat of rage, then sharpness of sorrow, and finally a numbness that spread throughout his entire body. His brain was on autopilot now, mechanically completing the task without his having to register it on a personal level. Or maybe it was the muscle relaxers that Kix had given him when the field medic had repaired the damage to his spinal column. 

The images on the datapad started to blur and he shook his head, annoyed. Rex looked up when he heard a soft tapping on the edge of a shipping crate and saw Fives walking gingerly toward him. 

"Sir, you got a minute?"

"Yeah. What is it?" Fives was uncharacteristically embarrassed. He shifted weight onto his heels, winced at the pressure on his left ankle, and settled into a slightly lopsided stance. His eyes were focusing on anything but Rex's face. "Anytime, trooper."

"Sorry, sorry. Ah... It's kind of a sensitive matter. So Kix gave Hardcase an anti-stress stim and now he's... well, you'd better come see for yourself..." Sighing, Rex followed him and gave up trying to do anything productive for the rest of the night. 

Hardcase had somehow managed to climb up the side of a gunship. He was currently sitting on the roof with his legs hanging down and several Torrent Company members were on either side trying to coax him down. 

"You gave him an anti-stress?" Rex asked Kix incredulously.

"Admittedly, it's probably one of the more stupid things I've ever done," Kix sighed. 

"How did he even get up there?"

"Nobody knows, sir." _That was Tup. _Rex was functioning on the sleep-deprived level of drone at the current moment and stood there for a few unresponsive minutes before attempting to get the situation resolved. 

"Right... okay then. Everybody not directly involved in this can clear off now. Get some well-earned rest." 

"C'mon, Hardcase," Fives was coaxing. "You heard the captain. Sleep shift."

"I'm good up here," Hardcase responded. He was in a mild and relaxed mood. 

"Look, 'Case, you should really-"

"It's alright Fives," Rex said soothingly. "You can hang around if you want, but leave this to me."

"Yessir." 

Rex cast about for a few moments, tried to scale the larty and failed, and then finally resorted to prodding the trooper with a long discarded metal pole. He managed to hook the barbed end just under the back plate of Hardcase's armor and pulled. Hardcase yelped and grabbed on to the siding with an iron grip. 

"Come on," Rex pleaded. "Just let go. It's not a long drop, and the ground is soft sand."

"Only if Fives catches me," Hardcase replied.

"Why do I have to be the one to catch him?" Fives protested.

"Fives-"

"I mean, I'll do it, but why me?" 

"Because he said so," Kix retorted testily. Rex tugged a bit on the pole again and reluctantly Hardcase let go. Fives held his arms out to catch him, wincing into his shoulder as he prepared for collision. They both went collapsing into the dirt with groans. 

"Well, that's that then," Rex summarized, dropping the pole. "If anyone needs me I'll be catching up on some sleep." 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Rex was wakened from a fitful doze by the sound of scuffling boots, and he remained frozen in place before recognizing the careful tread that was consistent of all clone troopers. He relaxed, letting out the breath he'd only just realized he'd been holding. In the dim light he could see the hesitant outline of mostly pristine armor and, judging by the bracing of the shoulders, made an educated guess.

"Tup? Kind of late to be up and about, isn't it?" 

"Yeah... sorry, sir. I'm restless, is all."

"Sit down for a moment. Tell me what's going on." Tup did so reservedly, crouching back on his heels as if ready to spring back onto his feet in an instant. He accidentally knocked Brye's leg in the process. The sergeant stirred in his sleep, then nestled into a more comfortable position and started to snore ever so slightly. Rex met Tup's gaze with an amused look; Brye was sprawled across his lap with his head resting on his thigh plate, having rolled the edge of the kama into a makeshift pillow. 

"Um..."

"He's annoying, but I don't know where I'd be without him," Rex explained fondly as he gazed down at his squad brother. He looked up again at his newest addition to Torrent Company. "I took the liberty of looking up your career. Three training squads is a lot, even by my standards. Which leads me to think that you lost someone very special in that first group." 

"Yeah." Tup swallowed, looking away. "I just- I never fit in with either of my replacement teams, even to the very end. I was always the odd man out. First replacement, I transferred within a week. Second... well, I didn't have to stay on very long." 

"Hardcase transferred four times," Rex stated mildly. "Fifth team was the charm." Tup stared at him in surprise. 

"Really?" The captain nodded. "Huh. Never would have thought it to look at him."

"He likes you, you know. I think he sees someone who can bring him back down to the existential plane every now and again. I think he also realizes that he can get _you_ to loosen up every once in a while." There was a meaningful pause, and Rex shifted forward as much as possible with Brye still sleeping peacefully on his legs. "You need to unwind a little, kid. One of these days, that stress that you keep internalized? It's going to hurt you."

"I used to tell my sq- well, Fi in particular- anything that was bothering me. And then he got blown to kingdom come and I... I can't anymore. It was one of those things, you know? Something special between the two of us. And Thatcher, but I don't really count him in because he was squad leader and it was his job. I... miss them." Tup's eyes glistened wetly, and he swiped at them with his hand and a good dose of embarrassed anger. 

"Sorry. I know I'm not a cadet, so I should stop acting like one." Rex reached out and gripped his shoulder firmly, giving a comforting squeeze. 

"Don't ever hide your tears," he whispered. Their brown eyes locked for a few crucial moments as he continued speaking. "It's not a sign of weakness to cry. It's just like breathing and bleeding. It's what separates you from droids and makes you better than them, because it's what makes you _human._"

"I-" Tup couldn't finish speaking. He just nodded to show his understanding. After a few moments he stood, stretching stiff legs. "Thanks for the talk, capt-" he managed to catch himself. "-Rex." Rex smiled.

"You're welcome." Tup walked away, hesitating a few moments before lying down near to Hardcase a good few meters off.

"That was uncharacteristically poetic," Brye murmured sleepily as he raised his head up.

"Go back to sleep," Rex grumbled good-naturedly as he shoved his head back down. 


	26. Sand in the Hourglass I

_The storm was getting worse. Thick red sand kept getting in his eyes and mouth, in his ears and nose. It was collecting in the collar of his armor. Too bad the air filters were clogged in his helmet. He'd have to clean them later. For the moment... he had to weather this abrasive wind. _

_The pain in his left ankle was worse now, sharp and insistent. His ears were ringing and the pitch was working its way to a frequency high enough as to be intolerable. _

_Another explosion rocked his world and he went flying through the air, instinctively curling into a ball as he hit the ground with extreme force that expelled all the air from his lungs. He tasted blood in his mouth, panicking when he realized that it wasn't his. Volleys were coming in more frequently, and Rex burrowed deeper into the sand. It was redder than usual. Something landed on top of him and started screaming in pain; the usually deep and slightly rasping voice peaking in high soprano crescendos. _

_Rex had heard that soldiers usually called for their mothers when they were dying. Force, it was one of the things the instructors never shut up about on Kamino. That was what this trooper was doing now, except for one thing: clones didn't have paternal figures of any kind. He was calling for someone named Jazz. _

_The blood wasn't his. Rex kept muttering that to himself as he rolled out from underneath the wounded trooper and crawled over to him on his stomach, dragging his bad leg behind him. The trooper reacted to the noise and movement by going completely still, his breath coming out in quick, pained pants. _

_"Jazz?" He whispered. Rex smacked the side of his head and cursed his ruptured eardrum. He couldn't understand what the man was saying._

_"I don't- repeat, please?" He motioned to the blood caked around his right ear, though in the sandstorm it was hard enough to just see the top of one's own nose. "Louder?"_

_"Jazz," the trooper repeated more loudly, obliging._

_"Sorry, no. I have no idea who that is. Let me get you to a med station." _

_"Jazz..." The man's head slumped down onto his chest, and Rex was about to hoist him onto his shoulders when he saw the jagged hole in the abdomen plates of his armor. Blood was seeping thickly, and Rex let fly with every single piece of foul language he'd ever assimilated into his vocabulary as he assigned triage and began to make a field dressing- behind enemy lines in the middle of a sandstorm- while a bombardment was going on. _

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"Gerrof!" 

Rex started awake, grimacing in discomfort at the clammy feeling of the cold sweat on his skin. He was still groggy, but there seemed to be an argument developing between a few of his boys. After processing that he realized that the boulder he was leaning against was sitting in the center of a tight circle of sleeping troopers. Fives was leaning against his shoulder, Brye was still sprawled across his lap, and stirring on the top surface of the boulder were a grumpy Ailen and restless sleeping Jesse. Echo was curled into a ball, pressed both against Rex's side as well as Fives' as he was squashed in between them. Denal was curled against his other side, and Kix was draped over Denal's feet and was using them as a pillow. The rest of Torrent Company were in similar comfortable positions. It was, as the clone troopers labeled such communal slumber parties, a 'Mush Pile.' They were so named because, inevitably, someone usually ended up on the bottom of a three to four person stack and got smushed. 

A newcomer cleared their throat very loudly and Rex looked up to see a rather amused Commander Jet standing nearby. 

"Have a nice sleep?" He asked quietly. Rex shrugged with his hands because his shoulders were spoken for. "The Jedi wanted to have a quick run-down of our attack strategy, but uh... I'll tell them you need to wrap something up real quick."

"Thank you," Rex murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose. He glanced about him one more time, a perplexed look crossing his face. "How did all of you even _get _here?" 

"Mm?" Brye mumbled, waking. He looked around. "Huh. Well would you look at that. Haven't seen one of these since they made us train in that ice survival scenario and we had to huddle together for warmth."

"We've got work to do," Rex reminded him sleepily, stifling a yawn. "Come on. Up." 

"Too much of a good thing, huh?" 

"Something like that." The rest of his boys were soon awake- or close to- within minutes. Everyone went their separate ways to accomplish their duties before the assault on the factory, and Rex joined Ahsoka's briefing slightly late so he hung out near the back. Typically, it ended in the beginnings of a spat and the captain knew better than to get mixed up in it. 

"Are they always like that?" Jet asked, catching up to him. 

"I have _never _seen a Padawan and Master get into it like they do," Gree commented on his other side. Rex suddenly found himself sandwiched in between two camo-clad Commanders in his red-stained somewhat white armor. He was beginning to think that the camo would have been a nice touch. 

"I'm sure they're not the only pair that does it," Rex defended loyally. 

"Well, _mine _don't."

"Yeah, how are things between Unduli and Offee anyway?" Jet asked, intrigued. 

" ...Cool. Reserved. More of a professional partnership than a mentor-apprentice relationship, if I'm being honest." 

"Huh. Speaking as someone who's never had to deal with working with a Padawan Commander I can't imagine what it must be like."

"Problematic," both Rex and Gree replied at the exact same time. Jet just arched an eyebrow.

"Commander Offee is smart and has a mind for strategy, but she lacks experience," Gree explained. "She tries to cover that up by being over-confident, and since Padawans _always _outrank clone commanders I really can't do anything about it if she makes the wrong call."

"I just tell Ahsoka that she's going to get us all killed," Rex muttered. "She admits she's still got a lot of learning to do so she's open to alternatives. But in the end of it all she's still a kid, and sometimes she can't keep up with us." 

Gunships were landing now, and the dust was going everywhere. There was a collective sigh from the three officers as they pulled their helmets on to keep it out of their eyes. 

"That's my lift," Jet said. "General Mundi's back in the field so I'll need to have everything in order on the secondary front by the time he shows up."

"K'oyacyi!" Rex called after him. Jet paused long enough to give him a thumbs up before moving off again. 

"I'd better get my men settled in," Gree murmured, moving off to greet the rest of his troops as they arrived with their general.

"And I'd better meet Unduli," Rex sighed. "Just good manners." He moved to see her practically as she jumped out of the gunship. 

"General Unduli, General Skywalker is waiting for you," he announced quietly but precisely, and he couldn't help but notice the quiet and impassive Padawan standing behind her. So this was Barriss Offee, then. 

The two Jedi began heading in the general direction of Skywalker and Ahsoka, and Rex silently wished them luck because Ailen was stationed nearby the two doing a running commentary over the comm updating them on the developments of the argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K'oyacyi - "Stay Alive!" (Mando'a)


	27. Sand in the Hourglass II

" -So we've got the tanks on standby and are moving the main forces into position as we speak," Jesse summarized. Brye came running up, bracing his hands on his knees and panting. He happened to look up and spot the other sergeant watching him judgmentally with arms crossed. 

"Hi." 

"You'd better have a good reason for annoying me today," Jesse murmured warningly, the dark circles under his eyes a clear indicator of his stress level. 

"I do, actually," Brye rasped, unrepentantly grabbing Jesse's water from his belt and taking a sip. Jesse snatched it back with a glare. 

"Play nice," Rex cautioned. Jesse's face reddened slightly in embarrassment as Brye smirked. Rex smacked him upside the head in rebuke and it was Jesse's turn to smirk, so Rex smacked him too. "And behave. We've gotta show up the boys in green." They both straightened and stood smartly at ease. "Good. Brye, what did you almost kill yourself for by coming over here?"

"Right, right. Thought I should point out that there's a major dust storm fixing to hit us within twenty-four hours."

"Scale?" 

"'Nosis I scale."

"That's not good," Jesse murmured, his gaze darkening as he scanned the crimson desert. "We lost a lot of good men to that weather. Forget about the droids for a moment; it probably buried seventeen percent of us alive last time around." 

"It's a terrible way to die," Rex murmured. The other two nodded agreement. One of the exercises on Kamino had them shoved into an airtight room that slowly lost its oxygen, just like a ship without life support. They had to learn to survive for six hours before being let out. A lot of the men died during that one.

"At least they fixed the air filters in our helmets," Brye pointed out. Through his unworried manner there was still a very noticeable degree of unease. 

"I'm not a fan of this parade style approach." Jesse crossed his arms again as he voiced the disquiet that everyone would be sharing- including the generals themselves. 

"I know," Rex sighed. "But it's our best bet of completing our objective without this turning into a siege." 

"I suppose so. Still... did there _have _to be a bridge over an endless chasm?"

"_Now _who's the one exaggerating?"

Rex kept pace with Anakin on his right; Gree was on Luminara's left side and the tanks behind them. He could feel the heavy footfalls of the machinery and prayed that the stone bridge was a lot sturdier than it looked. There was plenty of disquieted chatter over the comlink. No one was especially thrilled to be going through with this diversion.

Skywalker must have sensed their collective unease, because he gave monotonous orders that they had already taken as a given. It was one of his unique ways of saying both that he understood precisely how they felt and that he was in control of the situation at the exact same time, and it was also one of the many reasons Rex had grown to admire his commanding officer. 

"Here come the droids... everybody steady. _Steady... _keep marching."

"I hope the Padawans have made it past the bridge by now," Unduli murmured. The droids kept advancing, one line after the other as they emerged practically straight from the factory production lines out the front doors and into the dusty atmosphere. Their dull sandy metal was unscarred and pristine. Rex was going to enjoy dirtying them up a bit. 

"That looks like a lot of droids," Anakin commented. 

"It _is _a droid factory," Unduli pointed out sarcastically.

"As long as we can destroy 'em faster than they can make 'em, we'll come out on top."

"Plain battle strategy on this one," Fives joked.

"Actually, this diversion is a very strategic move to make," Echo corrected. "And unusually 'big picture' for Skywalker."

"Are you saying this was Unduli's idea?" Denal asked. Even over the internal comm in their helmets, there was a distinctive pause in which everyone knew that Echo was considering his answer.

" ...Most likely. What do you think, Captain?" 

"I think it's high time we got a crack at the Seps," Rex replied lightly as the droids opened fire. They retaliated in like suit. "And that you've had more than enough time to get used to calling me Rex."

"Sorry. Just, the boys from the 41st. You know?"

"Echo, this is a Torrent only channel."

"Oh. Right."

"For being so smart you can be really dumb sometimes," Fives laughed. 

"All right, cut the chatter,"Rex ordered. "Need an open channel to listen to developments."

"Sir." He didn't bother trying to determine who had spoken. It was most likely Echo, though. Rex switched back to the main frequency and heard Gree yelling out a command for the medics to evacuate the seriously wounded farther back behind the tank line. 

"Keep advancing as best you can!" The Commander was saying. 

Geonosians suddenly came out from some hollow-tipped spires, firing from above. 

"I _knew _this was a trap," Ailen sighed. "It was almost too easy getting to their front door." 

"Squad up," Rex ordered. "Groups of three and four. Make sure all sides are covered." 

"That includes you," Tup pointed out. The rookie came up on one side while Tor lagged behind a bit on the other.

"Hardcase, get back here," Jesse sighed. Rex spotted the trooper in his peripheral vision as the enthusiastic man took his repeating blaster and opened up on the Bugs. "Last thing I need is you going loner right now."

"Sorry Sarge." Suitably chastised, Hardcase joined a group and continued to fire off round after round. Personally, Rex preferred making every single shot count. 

The two Jedi were cutting a path at the front, so he worked his way forward and noted that Gree was doing the same. They managed to catch t-slit contact.

"I hate kill zones," Gree growled. 

"Yeah, they're not my favorite thing either." 

"How much longer do we have to keep this up?" Brye asked. He was farther away with a group all his own. From the looks of things they were shinies. 

Droidekas rolled onto the scene, bringing the advancement to a halt as the two generals were forced to parry blasterfire at targets that were shielded.

"Rex!" Skywalker called. "Little help here!"

"Get up there, trooper!" Rex snapped. 

"I'll gladly oblige," Ailen stated as he ran forward, swung the rocket launcher over his shoulder, dropped to one knee, and fired. A dark cloud of ash and dirt exploded in front of them. "Denal, didn't you say something about it being a waste of resources to lug this thing with me?"

"I stand corrected." 

"Let's get those tanks in on the action," Gree ordered. It sounded more like a casual suggestion. "Shake things up a bit." 

"Sir yes _sir_," the lead AT-TE driver replied eagerly. The closest units opened up, and Rex's helmet systems kicked in to dampen the uptick in sound and bright blossoms of light as the droid ranks were blown sky high. The dust cleared and they could see prototype models of Separatist tanks moving in.

"Seps have a new toy," Anakin observed. "Rex, pick your targets."

"Yessir." Now, it was all a matter of mathematics. "Elevation four-two-seven." So it had been a good idea to bring the heavy cannons, after all... "Steady... steady... fire!" The volley opened up and the operators needed no encouragement in giving everything they had. It was almost too easy.

Rex brought the electrobinoculars from the clipped position on his belt up to the slit for his eyes in his helmet to see what impact they had made and almost dropped them in shock when the Sep tanks rolled through the smoky haze unscathed.

"Sir, _nothing _could withstand that," he protested, still struggling with denial. Things were _not _looking good.

"They must be ray shielded," Anakin guessed. His wrist chronometer started beeping and glowing a green circle. "The bombs are active!"

"The Padawans did it," Luminara said, voice shimmering with relief. 

"And just in time." The tanks started shooting flaming balls of hot plasma in their general direction, the trails arcing high and long. "Get down!" Rex, along with the rest of his boys, was already face down in the scarlet dirt. There was a portion of the men that had to keep running forward to find adequate cover.

"Stay low, stay maneuverable," Rex shouted. "They'll be going after the cannons and the Walkers."

"Sir yessir!" Denal acknowledged. 

The ground was all around them; above, below, lodging in their armor joints as the spray reached them. Rex and Gree managed to pull themselves unsteadily into crouching positions behind a large stactite. The General worked his way back to his forces after being trapped for a small portion of time behind a boulder. 

"Rex, tell the men to fall back!" Skywalker ordered. 

"But, _sir,_ you can't be asking us to turn tail and run!" Rex protested. He was certain he had heard wrong. Anakin Skywalker never retreated, and they _always _faced their enemies head-on like _men_. 

"I'm not asking you to run," Anakin explained knowingly. He grabbed up a bag full of explosive ordnance and bounced a detonator in his hand. "I want to lure the tanks onto the bridge." 

"I see what you have in mind," Unduli said as she snatched a pack herself.

"I've always got a plan, Master," Anakin promised grimly. "Let's go!" 

"Since _when!?_" Brye exclaimed incredulously. The troops rushed one way while the Jedi went to take out the bridge. "The entire time I've been in this outfit he's always played things by ear! Also, this feels an awful lot like retreating to me."

"We're not retreating, we're just advancing in the opposite direction," Rex retorted. 

"Oh sure, _that _clarifies things. Thanks." 

"You let him get away with talking to you that way?" Gree asked.

"Squad brother. Can't get him to shut up." 

"Ah. Understandable." The bridge suddenly exploded, taking the tanks and the blasterfire sniping at their heels with it. A rumble swept across the ground as the entire thing burst into one big fireball in the canyon. 

"Now _that's _what I call a bonfire!" Ailen remarked satisfactorily.

"I worry about you sometimes." Denal brought his hand up to his helmet and shook his head in exasperation. 

_"Rex, any sign of Ahsoka or Barriss on your end?" _Anakin asked over the comlink.

"Nothing, sir." Rex's smile faded to be replaced by a worried bite of the lower lip. "This place is getting ready to blow. ...Evacuation ships are already arriving, so I _suggest _you get on one." It was the closest he had ever come to giving his General an order. 

_"Not without Ahsoka," _Skywalker stated, all stubborn grimness. Rex sighed as two lightsabers and a hail of blaster bolts could be seen on the other side of the canyon. There was a split moment of silence, and then the factory burst into a bright ball of orange fire. Thick dust immediately radiated away from the sight.

"Get down, get down!" Gree shouted. They all all went skidding onto their stomachs, facing away from the direction of the blast as the thick concussive wind buffeted their armor. Rex had his head tucked into his elbow and his free hand braced over the back of his neck as it hit, expelling the air from his lungs. It was like being smacked with a wall of durasteel. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

_He was back in the sandstorm trying to breathe. The dust was suffocating, thick. He was blinded. Dirt kept getting collected in the wounded trooper's injury, and every time he tried to clean it more would pile in. Trying to give field aid was useless until he got out of the worst of it. _

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The welcome rumble of the larties shook him out of his memories. They felt incredibly real and close, not like recall at all. He was living them all over again.

To get his mind back into the present Rex concentrated on trying to find the generals. They were circling the remains of the factory when they spotted them. Landing, Rex ran out onto the small spur of land that was still mostly intact. Anakin, in a very uncharacteristic state of desperation, turned to stare pleadingly at him.

"The tank lifters are here to move the debris, as ordered sir," Rex said. 

"Get to it, Rex." There was a small, distracted nod as he acknowledged that his Captain had anticipated his silent command and gone ahead with it regardless. "They're down there somewhere."

"Yessir." 

"Six hours," Jesse said nervously. "But with this smoke... I really don't like their odds." 

"Me neither." 

It was a good forty-five minutes of clearing debris before anything worthwhile happened. All of the Torrent Company boys- Skywalker included- paused in what they were doing as their comlink began beeping out a pulse.

"Ahsoka's comm channel," the young Jedi said hopefully. "Coming from- over there!" He pointed at an area still heavily filled with wreckage. 

"I'll move the heavy machinery over, sir," Rex said helpfully. 

"No time." Both of the Jedi generals began to move the debris- massive chunks of it- out of the way using the Force. Layer after layer was discarded to the side until one of those Sep tanks was revealed. Both Ahsoka and Barriss emerged from a long broken slit in the side, coughing as a dusty in-rush of oxygen-thick air entered their lungs. 

Rex motioned for a few of the men to help get them back up to the top. Anakin pulled his Padawan the rest of the way. More gunships were arriving to evacuate them, so the Captain left them to a private moment of reunion and went looking for Commander Gree.


	28. Battles Long Past

Ahsoka was leaning heavily on his shoulder as they walked toward the evac ships. Most of the wounded men had already been loaded on, so they were just waiting on the two Padawans. Barriss managed to stay on her feet for the majority of the time, but every so often she would reach out and grasp his arm to steady herself. Once at the gunship they leaned on each other as they walked into the open bay.

"Sorry to leave you here, Rex," Ahsoka murmured tiredly. "And there's still so much to do..."

"You two did more than enough destroying that factory," Rex assured them sincerely. While he was naturally concerned about Barriss, his sole focus was trained on Ahsoka. Barriss was sweet and all, but Ahsoka was _family._ That was the only duty he held higher than the call to battle in his personal rule book, and for good reason. 

"Go get some rest." He reached out and refrained from resting a comforting hand on both of their shoulders, turning the motion into a brush-off of being left on the one planet he hated with deep-seated passion. "Let General Kenobi take it from here."

"We'll be back before you know it, Captain Rex," Barriss stated reassuringly as they turned to walk into the gunship. 

"We're ready, sir," the medic reported. Rex gave him a nod, the all-clear to take off. Ahsoka gave him a wink just before the door closed. He watched the larty lift off and followed it until it dipped over the edge of a rusty mesa on the horizon, then turned and began walking toward the large Republic cruisers currently resting on the planet's surface. 

The first thing he did was jump into a shower and let the sweat and grime rinse off his body. The second thing he did was do the same to his black bodysuit and armor plates. Thirdly, after getting back into the suit, pulling on a set of fatigue pants, and taking some well-earned reprieve in the barracks, he set to work getting all the little ticks and bugs out of his helmet's HUD system. The dust had screwed up the telemetry. Halfway through this process he felt a large, shuddering bang travel through the entire ship. Jesse, who had been lazily reading a holomag in his bunk nearby, barely paused to glance away.

"Storm's here, then," he commented coolly. 

"Seems like it," Kix agreed. The man was stretched out on his stomach on the bunk directly above, head resting on his crossed arms. Rex took a cursory glance around and noted that most everyone was either asleep or too tired to do anything but stare off into space. Ailen was tinkering with his chronometer, Denal was sleeping with one arm hanging off the edge of his bunk; Hardcase was showing Tup how to play Sabacc from where they were sitting cross-legged on the rookie's bunk. Echo and Fives were curled up closely together on a single cot section, fast asleep. Clones had brothers, but Rex decided that they were the equivalent of twins by how inseparable they were. Brye stumbled over to his own bunk and collapsed face-first into it. 

"Nothing left to do until it passes," Rex sighed. He stood up and walked over to Kix, pausing to pull a blanket over Brye's shoulders and then lift Denal's arm back out of harm's way without really thinking about it. "So, what was the total casualty tally this time?" 

"So many," Kix grumbled, face sinking lower into his arms. He watched through half-closed eyes as Rex flinched, fancying he'd heard the wind rattle the bulkheads this far into the cruiser. In a lower voice the medic asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah..." Rex murmured unconvincingly. "This place just gets to me, is all." He ran his hand over his slightly stubble-ridden scalp, fingers traveling along phantom scars which had healed and vanished several months before. 

"Rough go of it last time around, I reckon." 

" ...Yeah." 

"Even commanding officers need to sleep," Kix suggested persuasively. 

"I'll only find myself back in the middle of 'Nosis I if I do that." 

"Suit yourself." Kix let his head droop the rest of the way, the only portion of his face now visible being his eyebrows and forehead. He was out like a light. Rex tread quietly back to his bunk and finished up the tuning of his HUD, laying the helmet on his knees as he leaned his back against the cool durasteel wall. Try as he might he couldn't remain awake, and he was plagued by the sound of tremendous bug wings thrumming toward him. 

General Mundi was much better after spending some time in medical, and Jet seemed more like his chipper old self as they moved to route the remaining droid divisions in their area after the storm had lifted. Cody and a small group of his boys had followed Kenobi and Skywalker after General Unduli, so the 41st was working under Gree. The 212th received the news that they were being placed temporarily under Jet's command with some complaint, and eventually the Commander became so exasperated at hearing that they could fend for themselves that he assigned them to be Rex's problem. Waxer, who had been the most outspoken, later confided in the 501st Captain that that had been their goal all along since Torrent Company was far more familiar with the boys in gold paint. Rex retorted by asking why they didn't simply make that case to the General, and got a shrug in response.

The three officers marched in pace with Master Ki Adi Mundi across a red mesa, their forces spread out behind them. Rex was practically dozing as he walked, but he was wide awake when something far off shrieked and the harsh animal call echoed clearly toward them. His grip tightened about his twin blaster pistols, entire body stiffening. The space was too small. A fight with a carnivorous beast in the canyon would end well only for the creature.

Rex blinked. They were in wide open space, the walls of the steep ravine seeming to dissolve into the pastel orange-gold sky. He shook his head to clear it and began to worry about the state of his mental health. Cold sweat broke out on his lower lip and forehead, misting the shoulder blades and small of the back. This wasn't the First Battle of Geonosis, he wasn't trapped in a tight space, and there wasn't any immediate danger for the next few foreseeable klicks. In fact, the only sight contact he had for the droids was the slight metallic glint far on the horizon. It could just as easily have been a heat haze. 

He tuned in every once in a while on the command channel to hear Jet chattering away about whatever popped into his head, noted the occasional sigh of exasperation from Gree, and then tuned out. He wasn't in the mood for a conversation, and Jet- though seemingly reserved at first glance- was a difficult person to shut up once he got started. Rex had problems, and he wasn't going to solve them by listening to him carry on about Voss trancendance music. Who liked that stuff, anyway!? 

Some soldiers called it ghosting. They could see things from their past as clearly as if they were back in the thick of it, right in the middle of a bright active day. Others called it survivor's shock. Professionals slapped the label "Post-Traumatic Stress" on it and tried to treat it like a blaster shot. Rex had been in plenty of fights similar to 'Nosis I and hadn't ever had any problems. His was... "place triggered." It was easy to get sucked into the nightmare because he was standing where it had happened, and the memories were easier to recall. ...Or maybe he just hadn't acknowledged that he had the problem until it was too obvious to ignore. He'd have to talk with Kix after all this was over, whether he wanted to or not. He was required to.

Cody was late to the party and clearly traumatized. The only thing that any of the commanding officers could get out of him was "tunnels, bugs, and zombies." Rex tactfully suggested that he keep leading the 212th and got the full extent of Cody's psychological state when the Commander didn't put up a fuss stating otherwise. They made quick cleanup work and all retired back to the cruisers for well-earned rest a few days later when they had won. 

Rex quietly cleaned a thin wafer of HUD hardware as he sat at a table in the Mess with the other three commanding officers and a few extra aside. The Second Battle of Geonosis had been a major campaign with several fronts, and now that they were all pulling out the Jedi Generals were gathering to coordinate who was leaving when on the roster. Since Master Windu needed help on Dantooine the 212th and 501st would be one of the first groups to leave. 

The wafer was almost clean when Cody sat next to him with a cup of caf. They listened half-heartedly to Blye and Gree discuss joint operations.

"I'm just saying. Secura is a lot more fun when no one else is around. She cracks jokes, she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. But then another Jedi comes around and it's like a switch flips," Blye explained. Gree nodded.

"Yeah, Unduli and Offee have a more relaxed Padawan/Master relationship when no one's watching."

"Mundi might _seem _like a stern guy, but he's pretty great most of the time," Jet added. 

"Don't even get me started on Koon," Wolffe countered. "He likes pranks every so often. It's basically acceptable for everyone to act like they're twelve for the entire day after that."

"Well, we kind of _are _eleven years old..." Jet ventured in good humor. Wolffe glared at him but cracked a smile to soften the stare. 

"What I'm saying is that it seems like all Jedi team-ups are stiff and rigid," Blye summarized. The wafer Rex had been cleaning snapped neatly into two pieces in his fingers and Cody choked on his caf. The other officers turned to look at them in bemused surprise. 

"What, it's not like that with Kenobi and Skywalker?" Gree asked. Cody held up a finger to ask for time as he tried to stop coughing, set his cup of caf down, and opened his mouth to answer. Rex just sat there in the blank defensive movement of complete mental shutdown. Cody never got to say anything as shouting could be heard drawing steadily nearer. 

" -ut me down!"

"No."

"Anakin! Put me down _now!"_

"Nope." The two Jedi went running past the clone officers- or rather Anakin Skywalker went running past with Obi-wan Kenobi slung over his shoulder screaming- and there was a tremendous crash out of view. A few seconds later Ahsoka came walking by dragging both of them by their ankles with a tired expression on her face. Cody and Rex looked back at their peers; Rex pointed over his shoulder with his index, thumb, and middle finger while Cody jerked his hands in the direction of the ensuing chaos for emphasis. 

"Oh." Was all Blye said before they tactfully changed the subject.


	29. Nightmares

The ship shuddered slightly as they entered hyperspace, en route to pick up Ahsoka from the medical station. 

"How long has this been going on then?" Kix asked. His fingers were tapping on the datapad and the stylus remained unused on the side. 

"Just since we landed on the planet, so about nine days ago," Rex answered tiredly. They were sitting alone in the side room attached to the barracks- the room that would have been Rex's quarters if he hadn't preferred being out in the thick of it all, with his boys, and was thus used as a place of random storage- discussing Rex's condition. Kix was remarkably understanding about it and was simply going down the list of required questions he had to ask. 

"Right... and what triggered this?" Rex shot him an exasperated look and Kix took the hint. "Bugtown, got it. I just have a few more questions to ask now that we've gotten the preliminaries over with."

"We've been sitting here for a half hour already!" Rex exclaimed, irritated. He was never one for speaking his mind to begin with, and this was a much more sensitive topic. 

"I know. But just a few more, I promise." Clones were supposed to be resilient. They were genetically altered to have the mental strength to be resistant to succumbing to stress. Being here, now, in the process of determining the level of Post-Traumatic Stress he had felt like a failing of some sort and Rex wondered if he was defective. 

"How do these episodes make you feel?" Kix asked suddenly. Rex leaned forward slowly and averted his eyes to the floor. 

"Uh... terrified. Angry. Cornered. Like nothing's in my control," he replied slowly. "And I- I'm not really used to that. It's a feeling I don't like to experience." 

"Most don't. And how do you respond to those feelings?" 

"I get confused on occasion. They make me edgy. A couple of times I thought I was back right in the thick of 'Nosis I instead of 'Nosis II. _That _was what scared me; the idea of not knowing which battle I was in and leading the rest of you the wrong way." 

"So you were more afraid for us than you were for yourself," Kix summarized, glancing up briefly from his 'pad. Rex nodded, clearing his throat and studying the carbon scoring on the sides of his boots. Suddenly he looked up. 

"Kix, how do I deal with this? Is there a therapy or-" Kix was shaking his head. 

"Public health and safety would like you to believe that, but the truth is that PTS is different for everyone. It... helps to talk to people, and to know what your triggers are. I can help you with the second part, but you'll have to find someone you can really open up to for the first bit." Kix shot him a sympathetic look. "If you want to know, I've got it myself. A lot of us do. We just don't talk about it because we're a bunch of contumacious mossbacks." 

"Do you read dictionaries in your spare time?" Rex asked sarcastically. 

"You have your hobbies... but I mean it." His gaze was steady. "Jesse makes all the difference for me."

"I'll keep that in mind. ...Thank you, Kix."

"No problem, Alor'ad." The medic stood and stretched stiff muscles, slipping the datapad expertly under his arm as he walked out. Rex waited a few moments before following, lost in thought. When he entered into the main part of the barracks he was pleased to see that it was empty, and that his boys were all going about their routine on the ship in preparation for blasting a hole in the Separatist forces currently preventing General Windu from getting his men off of Dantooine. 

They had a medical frigate dock with them about two hours later, and they got some of their brothers back. Their condition after being controlled by the Geonosian worms, the Chief Medic had explained, was stable but delicate psychologically speaking, and that they would do better under the care of the medics on board ship who were more familiar with their tell-tale cues. 

Ahsoka, who had gotten the treatment she'd needed after almost freezing to death and only required bedrest, didn't say a word as she trudged to her quarters. Anakin had escorted her there and hadn't reappeared for several minutes, so Rex guessed that she was making it difficult for her Master to figure out how she was holding up. 

They were now orbiting Dantooine, and it was all hands on deck to man the stations as it was an intense live-fire situation. The Separatist cruisers weren't as sturdy or maneuverable as their Republic counterparts, but- as always- they had the advantage of numbers. That meant a little bit more during a space battle than ground fighting, since the quality of a ship's shields was directly proportionate to the amount of guns being aimed at them. Rex _really _wasn't fond of being trapped in a pressurized durasteel bubble that could suck him into the unforgiving vacuum of space if punctured. 

He paced the bridge and ran over the positions every few minutes, every so often moving their fighter squadrons to an area where they could be of more use and then watching the small triangular icons zip across the board. Since Skywalker was always out in the thick of the fighting he tended to leave that squadron to its own devices and worked the remaining ones around it as best he could. 

Eventually the fire subsided and the Separatist forces retreated, licking their wounds. General Kenobi had a brief chat with Admiral Yularen over the holo from the bridge of his own cruiser, unsuccessfully resisting the urge to make a snide comment about Anakin's "shoot first and ask questions later" method. The Jedi explained that they'd been called back to Coruscant and then ended the transmission. 

Rex relayed the news to General Skywalker and then went to find out how much damage the ship had sustained, getting a tally of how much ammunition they'd expended in the process. Based on the reports, it would be a _long _overhaul. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Rex had never actually been inside the Jedi Temple before, but he'd heard Cody and a few of the other officers speak of it often enough in a hushed reverent tone that he'd decided to wear his navy dress fatigues instead of his chipped and dusty armor. He had to give General Skywalker a report in the command center before he would allow himself to take any liberty time while waiting for the refit in Coruscant's GAR barracks. 

Stepping off of the gunship in the Temple hangar Rex was glad he'd made the choice in outfit that he had. The stone walls were elegantly sculpted even here, and going deeper into the ancient halls his soft-heeled boots barely made an echo on the marbled floors. Delicate blue light filtered in through the tall, high windows and brought in the rainbow of colorful night signs of the busy city, but unlike the rest of the planet this place felt... peaceful. It was like a deep pool in the center of a rapid current, and Rex could envision himself slowly sinking deeper into the depths. 

He managed to shake himself out of the illusion as he reached the control room, sidestepped several astromech droids, and cruised to a halt next to the giant circular holomap canvas. The entire galaxy was spread out above him in a shimmering canopy, and he paused for a few moments of admiring reflection while he waited for Skywalker to show up. Naturally, the General was arguing with Master Windu about something trivial when he walked in. 

"And another thing- oh, hey Rex. Got the report?"

"Yessir. Repairs are going to go faster than initially estimated and we've stocked up on all necessary supplies for deployment. Now all we need is our ship." 

"Perfect. The sooner we get out of here, the better." A pointed look at Windu, who shook his head in annoyance and withdrew to a different area of the room. When he was gone Anakin's outgoing veneer dropped, and he looked worried. Leaning in he whispered, "Do me a favor and check up on Ahsoka. I've tried, but I can't get through to her. Maybe you can." 

"Of course." 

"She's probably in the Room of a Thousand Fountains." 

"Skywalker!" Anakin sighed as Windu snapped for him.

"Coming, Master!" Quietly, to Rex, he added, "Ask anyone. They'll tell you where to go." He then strode away, squaring his shoulders and adopting that air of expectant arrogance that he reserved only for select members of the Jedi Council. Rex took his leave and entered out into one of the long halls, stopping a youngling on the way and politely asking for directions to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. They obliged, and he was on his way.

The air was moist and cool when he walked in, and he immediately felt soft grass under the soles of his boots. A fine mist drifted through the crisp, fresh air. And Rex became momentarily disoriented by the proverbial paradise lying untouched in the middle of a completely industrialized city. Glancing up he saw a vast spray of stars, noting the hypnotic shimmer on the very edges of his vision that indicated they were holographically artificial yet deceptively convincing nonetheless. Trees and plants were blooming abundantly, and it wasn't called the Room of A Thousand Fountains for nothing. There was a constant trickle of water; there were rapids, pools, rivers, creeks, waterfalls, cascades. They were everywhere. 

A slight breeze carried the sound of chimes through the gardens, and it rustled through the thick green foliage. Rex's head jerked around as he heard a splash, and he made his way toward the origin of the sound. Predictably, he found Ahsoka sitting on the edge of a deep pool. Her feet were bare, and her white leggings were rolled up to her ankles. She was staring blankly out across the rippling surface of the water, creating more as she trailed a vibrant orange toe across the surface. He could tell that she wasn't really seeing it. 

"Nice spot to be alone," he commented quietly as he came to sit cross-legged next to her on the grass. She didn't bother to glance round.

"Mmm." 

"The General's worried about you, you know." Ahsoka sighed.

"I know. I just... I can't talk to him about these kinds of things. He's great with the physical things- fighting, that type of training- but when it comes to the Force and the mind..." She trailed off. " ... and I don't know Master Kenobi well enough to talk about... this." 

"I completely understand what you mean, vod'ika," Rex murmured sympathetically. "I uh..." he paused, debating with himself. After a few moments he decided he could trust her. "I kept... flashing back to 'Nosis I while we were fighting," he admitted. "I've got Post-Traumatic Stress and I was reacting to the location." Ahsoka looked at him, eyes wide. 

"I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. The thing is though, Kix says that it helps to talk to people. To explain everything you're feeling and going through. ...When I was- having flashbacks, I felt like I wasn't in control. I felt alone, and I didn't want to die without someone there. My whole life I've always been able to rely on my brothers, to have gem there beside me when I needed them most. During 'Nosis I I got separated from my squad, and then from the main attack force. At the time I didn't think that it had had a big impact on me. But that, coupled with what happened at Teth... I'm afraid of being abandoned by the people I depend on. I have never been more terrified in my entire life than I was during those hallucinations." 

There was a small increment of silence.

"While I was waiting for the hypothermia to kill me my mind kept going back to that Separatist lab on Naboo," Ahsoka admitted. She turned to look at him, properly this time. "You carried me through those corridors and held me in your arms so that my chest could open up and I could breathe. All I could think of, all I wanted, as I went numb with cold, was to be able to feel your arms around me because even though I knew I was dying you made me feel safe and- and _wanted. _Growing up in the Jedi Temple... we're all about not forming attachments. But being with the men... that feels like _family_. And family feels _safe_. I'm not as scared when I'm with you guys. Does that make sense?" 

"No one wants to be alone," Rex summarized gravely, softly. It meant more to him than he had expected that she considered them family. Maybe it sprang from the assumption that all Jedi were detached. Even Skywalker was, to a certain degree. But Ahsoka... this was a fellow soldier, a sister in arms. And he cared for her just as he cared for his brothers. 

Ahsoka hesitated for a moment before shoving her head under his arm and snuggling against his chest.

"I'm scared, ori'vod," she murmured in a small voice. Rex hesitantly wrapped his arms around her shoulders and could feel her trembling slightly with fear. _Ori'vod. Big brother. _

"We'll get through this, kid," he murmured comfortingly. "We'll get through this. Somehow..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation:   
Contumacious Mossbacks -   
Hard-headed Geezers
> 
> Mando'a Translation:  
Alor'ad - Captain  
Vod'ika - Little Sister (in this tense)  
Ori'vod - Big Brother (in this tense)


	30. Dress Code

"This is all your fault!" Rex accused, wincing as his ankle twisted painfully and he stumbled. He picked himself back up and started running again.

"My fault!?" Cody exclaimed, doing his best to keep pace with him. "How is this my fault?" 

"You were the one who volunteered us for this assignment!"

"It was _your _general who brought it up in the first place!" 

"Yeah, but I wasn't stupid enough to accept!"

"Whatever. Where's the path to the hangar?"

"Next turn."

"Right, okay. W-wait up a minute." They slowed to a halt and Cody dabbed at his eye. "Is my mascara running?" 

"Are you kidding me?" Rex exclaimed as he leaned against a wall and pulled his high heels off. "We're about to be shot dressed as women and you're worried about your _makeup!?_" 

"Well unlike you I want to go out looking my very best." 

"If we make it back to Coruscant I'm going to kill both you _and_ Skywalker." 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

**Jedi Temple Control Center, 5 Hours Earlier...**

"I have no idea why we're being called here. Do you?" Rex shook his head in response to Cody's question. 

"No idea, ner vod." They strode through the long corridor with the columns lining up on one side into an open-air courtyard and ignored the curious younglings who stopped their lightsaber drills to watch them pass by. Surprisingly, Senator Amidala was there as well as General Skywalker and Ahsoka. 

"Senator," They both said, coming to attention. Rex settled back into his at ease stance quickly after doing so, but Cody had to be motioned into it by the General. Padmé smiled pleasantly at them and then turned her attention back to Anakin. Rex noted that they were standing familiarly close to each other and let further consideration into the significance of that drop. It wasn't his business and he wasn't all that interested. 

"If you don't mind my asking sir, why are we here?" Rex asked. 

"Ah... right." It was rare for Skywalker to be at a loss for words. "Well, uh..."

"I'll handle this," Padmé interrupted pointedly. Anakin's face flushed a slightly darker shade of pink than usual. 

"That'd probably be best." 

"Okay, so long story short," Amidala began, "I'm supposed to attend a peace summit that involves members of neutral systems, and there have been... threats. I'm not really concerned, but the Supreme Chancellor says I need protection."

"Why can't I tag along?" Ahsoka asked.

"They're not allowing Jedi."

"Oh."

"I... suppose I can put together a security detail," Cody offered tentatively. Like Rex, he was on high alert. Things were... off. If it were a simple matter of security there wouldn't be a shady meeting long after dark in a side room of the Temple Control Center. 

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Padmé explained with a shake of her head. "They're not allowing bodyguards either."

"So who _are _they allowing?" Rex asked. 

" ...Handmaidens."

"Oh." _Oh. _" ...I'm not going to like this assignment, am I?" 

"**_Oh_**_," _Cody murmured, the hidden conversation suddenly making sense to him. Padmé's face was set in a sympathetic grimace.

"Afraid not."

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

**Peace Conference of Neutral Systems, Present Time...**

Rex and Cody slipped down a side corridor, looked around for observers, and then backed into a maintenance closest. The space was tight, and in trying to turn himself around Rex accidentally swiped a shelf with supplies on it. Cleaning fluids spilled all over the place and the two of them weinkled their noses at the sharp smell of harsh chemicals.

"Lovely," Cody sighed, the intonations in his voice inflecting some of General Kenobi's accent in the process. "Just lovely. We've lost the Senator, there's a whole mob of angry Niktos on our heels, and _if _we fight them we'll be doing it in skirts." 

"Well I know for certain we'll get out of this in one piece," Rex vowed.

"Really? How?"

"Because there's no way I'd be caught _dead _in this get-up." 

"Our chances of survival... are directly proportionate to your determination not to die in women's clothing?" Rex picked at the fabric of his apparel.

"Orange really isn't my color."

" ...Okay then. Noted." The captain cracked the door open and peered out into the hall, eyes flitting back and forth intermittently as he searched for hostiles.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

**On Board Senator Amidala's Ship, 3 Hours Prior...**

"Milady?" C-3PO's golden-domed head swiveled slightly from where the protocol droid was sitting in the pilot's seat. "They're requesting authentication before allowing us to land."

"Give it to them, Threepio." Padmé was fiddling with a clasp in her hair, and Rex and Cody were watching her do so. They were incredulous at her ability to fix something so perfectly on the back of her head without the use of a mirror. As she turned to them she flung her plaited brunette hair over her shoulder. "So, we're clear on procedure?"

"We'd rather not be here and you'd rather not have us here, so we'll all just go about our jobs and get it over with as quickly as possible," Rex summarized promptly. Cody raised an eyebrow but nodded. 

"You need to stop spending so much time with Anakin Skywalker," Padmé sighed good-naturedly. "He's a bad influence." 

"Aren't we a little tall to be handmaidens?" Cody asked pointedly. "And well-built?" The Senator shrugged.

"I'll just say that you're Mandalorian."

"Well you're not wrong," Rex muttered. He and Cody disappeared farther into the ship to find wigs and appropriate attire. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

**Peace Conference of Neutral Systems, Present Time...**

The Nikto mercenaries were sprawled across the floor, and Cody looked up as Rex approached.

"Well, that's the last of this lot." He gazed toward the direction of the hangar. "I'm pretty sure our wayward Senator is closer to the ship than we are."

The sound of fighting up ahead was a good sign. Rex and Cody rounded a corner just in time to watch someone get beamed in the head with a clutch, and Senator Amidala whirled about as another attacker came up behind her to step down with all her force on their foot with her thin, sharp heel. She caught sight of the two troopers and motioned anxiously for them to hurry up, hiked up the hem of her dress, and somehow managed to tie it into a much shorter length. 

"Let's go!" She barked, smacking another hired gun again with her handbag.

"What do you _have _in that thing?" Rex asked as the woman crumpled to the floor.

"Bricks."

" ...Oh. Should've seen that one coming."

"Can we talk accessories later, please?" Cody requested. 

"It's not an accessory, it's a fashionable container."

"Boys..."

"Sorry ma'am," Cody and Rex muttered at the same time. The ramp on the Nabooian ship slid down and they were blasting out of the hangar before they'd even reached the end of it, so they had to jump on and scramble inside in an undignified way. 

Padmé collapsed in the co-pilot's seat and let out a long sigh. 

"Well, that went better than I'd expected," she murmured tiredly. 

"With your permission ma'am, we'd like to get out of these... disguises as quickly as possible so..." Cody asked awkwardly, coughing with embarrassment. 

"Oh, yeah. Go right ahead."

"Much appreciated." The two officers stumbled unevenly into one of the dressing rooms, pulled off their heels, and began undressing.

"Well that was a horrific experience," Rex grumbled as he washed his makeup off.

"I'm never going to speak of it and I know you won't, so maybe we can forget it ever happened," Cody suggested. Rex paused long enough to give him a scathing look. "What?"

"There's no going back."

"Why?" 

"Because-" Rex said as he pulled up the hem of his dress- "I shaved for this." Cody eyed his smooth legs for a few moments, blinked, and then began pulling the clothing over his shoulders. 


	31. Brothers, All I

Brief flashes of color went zipping by as the landscape fell away behind him. There wasn't much to look at; it was all rocky prairie for as far as the eye could see. Every once in a while a splash of farmland peaked out among a dip in the hills, and Hardcase would exclaim about the tremendous amount of variety there was on Saleucami. Kix would grumble about rookies, Jesse would smugly say that _they_ had never acted in such a way, and then Rex would sigh and intentionally fill the comm channel with a brief burst of headache-inducing static. There was no doubt about their skill, nor their commitment, and while Rex was pleased that Kenobi had seen it as a worthwhile use of his time to remember the names of a clone unit that wasn't even under his command, Rex wouldn't have added on Hardcase for the fourth member of their party. Echo or Tup would have been a better option with their steadfastness to detail being what it was.

They were deep into well-hidden terrain when there was the sound of a sniper rifle being fired off, Rex felt a sharp, burning pain in the center of his chest and then the following jarring motion of being thrown from his speeder, and then finally the aggressive impact of back into dusty earth as he hit the ground and fell unconscious.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The shadowy definition of a thatch roof in dim lighting was the first thing he saw when he woke up. Well, that _and _the back of Kix's lightning-bolt shaved head as he turned away to do something else. Rex could feel immense pain in his chest and he had a splitting headache, so he assumed that something bad had happened to him.

"Wh-what happened?" He murmured quietly.

"Commando Droids took a potshot," Hardcase growled, swinging around from where he had been perching on the railing of a farm stall. "Would've gone straight through your heart if it'd been two inches to the left."

"And you say _I _have a bad bedside manner," Kix said with a meaningful glare at Jesse.

"I can't move my arm," Rex stated, unnerved. Judging by Kix's unsurprised expression he didn't think it was worth panicking over.

"Nerve damage," the field medic explained passively. "Happens all the time with injuries of this sort."

"Understood." Kix sighed as Rex went to sit up; without his left arm it was unexpectedly difficult and he needed help. "If you'll patch me up, we can get on with our search."

"You're in no condition," the medic protested. In all honesty, his tone was unusually mild and coaxing. "Now your injury _will_ heal, but it'll take time."

"We're getting _under way_, Kix,'' Rex stated. It was his 'don't mess with me' tone that he rarely used. "That's an order."

"Sir..." Kix's voice was still mild, but there was now a had edge to it and a stubborn glint had come into his eyes. "As team medic when it comes to the health of the men-which includes you- I outrank everyone." Rex narrowed his eyes but could see that he wouldn't be getting anywhere, especially when Kix gently but firmly grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to lay him back flat on the table. "So I _respectfully_ order _you_, sir, to get some rest."

"Ahem." All four of them looked around when the owner of the farm they were staying on cleared her throat in the doorway. Rex hadn't seen her before, due to the fact that he was unconscious, and he was struck by how disarmingly vicious she looked. The Twi'lek woman was of a small frame and had a dancer's build, but her eyes said that anyone mistaking her for a defenseless slave girl would get what was coming to them.

"Excuse me." Her voice was soft-spoken, but guarded as she held out a plate of food to them. "If there's not enough-"

"There's plenty," Jesse interrupted to assure her awkwardly. "Uh... Thank you..."

"Suu."

"...Suu." His attention strayed to a small hoverball that came flying in through the door and landed on the ground underneath the table Rex was laying on. A Twi'lek girl with some distinguishing human characteristics followed after it. Her mother looked annoyed.

"I told you to stay in the house," she reprimanded as her daughter crawled under the table. Rex and Hardcase exchanged an amused yet mutually uncomfortable glance.

"I couldn't help it, mom," she protested. "It got away." the girl grabbed the toy and stood back up triumphantly, her face only a few inches from Rex's. Her smiling face suddenly looked unexpectedly surprised, and she tilted her head a little to the side as she studied his face. Rex would have been lying if he had said that he wasn't perturbed by this. The intensity of the girl's stare was unnerving.

"You look like my daddy," she said finally. The clones all swapped a surprised and confused look.

"Shaeeah," Suu muttered her daughter's name reproachfully. "Don't bother the soldier. Get inside with your brother."

"Yes, mom," Shaeeah sighed, rolling her eyes in annoyance. As the girl sulked out of the barn Suu handed Jesse the food platter.

"My husband is away, delivering our first harvest," she explained as if it clarified things. It didn't. "Do you require anything else?"

"No. Thank you, Suu." He started back over to the table as Kix finally succeeded in forcing Rex back onto the table flat on his back. Hardcase grabbed one of his pistols and thoughtfully laid it next to his good arm in case he needed it.

"Resume the search without me," Rex sighed in defeat, ignoring Kix's exultant expression. "Jesse, you're in charge." The Sergeant nodded affirmatively. "I'll be fine here."

The other three stayed just long enough to scarf down some food before leaving him to rest, and he fell into a light, uneasy doze as he was periodically awakened by the sounds of strange, unfamiliar creatures outside. Rex had actually settled into a deeper slumber when one of the livestock began licking his face with its extraordinarily long tongue.

"No, no no nonononono," he pleaded as he shoved the creature away. Rex was wiping the slobber off his skin when he thought he heard movement outside the door. He listened a nit longer before going back to an uneasy rest.

The soft, careful, and precise tread of a man's footsteps and the slight creak of the door as it opened were definitely not something cooked up by his imagination. He dared barely to open his eyes for a quick glimpse at a darkened silhouette advancing slowly toward him before he closed them again, forcing his breathing to be peaceful and deep while his body tensed in readiness of a fight. His fingers curled securely around the grip of his pistol, and he raised it to fire when it was knocked out of his hand by a piece of farm equipment, which was suddenly millimeters away from his face and aimed precisely between his eyes at the weak spot where bridge of nose and eye sockets were closest.

"Who are you?" It was a voice he'd heard countless times before, and it was a shock to find that he was staring into the face of a fellow clone. The man seemed just as surprised to see Rex as Rex was to see him. "...W-what are _you _doing here?" He asked, one eyebrow furrowing while the other was raised in skeptical curiosity. It was one of the few personality traits that had carried over to almost all of them.

"You're a clone," Rex stated carefully. The threshing tool lowered slowly, a look of worried disappointment crossing the man's face.

"So... I see the war has finally made it's way out here," he summarized flatly. "Which means that I can probably expect a visit from some droids soon." He made no move to stop Rex's initial attempt to sit up, so the captain continued struggling into a less prone position. There was something suspicious about the other clone. His hair- which was a recently dyed red-brown- was past regulation length and not tied back in an approved way, to say nothing of his clothing which suggested that he'd been on the planet for some time.

"What's your rank and number?" Rex asked sharply, eyes narrowing. He never asked for the number when a name could do instead, but... the way the other clone would answer would be telling. The man chuckled softly, leaning on the threshing pole. Rex was still wary of the thing.

"Well, my _name_ is Lawquane," he answered promptly. "Cut Lawquane. And uh, I'm just a simple farmer."

"You're a deserter," Rex growled. Such cases were immensely rare in the clone army, but this wasn't the first time and it probably wouldn't be the last. The only thing worse to Rex was a traitor. Visions of Slick were like a ghostly imprint on his retina. The former Sergeant seemed to be standing directly behind Cut, smirking. As for Cut himself, he smiled faintly and put his hands up in a non-confrontational pose that was no less threatening because of the threshing pole still in one. He seemed to notice Rex's interest in it, because as he talked he moved to set it back where he belonged.

"I like to think that I'm exercising me freedom to choose," he defended mildly. As he turned slightly away Rex noticed the smile fade to be replaced by an overall expression of sadness. It was more obvious when Cut turned the light on in the barn, and he added softly under his breath, "To choose not to kill for a living..."

"That's not your choice to make," Rex pointed out. He was too angry to stop the words coming out of his mouth, but the sounded... programmed. He seemed to hear them in an out of body experience. "You swore an oath to the Republic. You've got a duty!" Except... Rex could barely remember himself when he had sworn that oath. When he was two, maybe? Repeating exactly what the Kaminoan instructor had said word for word during a flash training lesson. What he did remember was the odd look on Skywalker's face when he had referred to the creation and use of a clone army as slave labor, and saw that same look on Cut's face now.

"I have a duty," he agreed. "On that part you're right. But it's to my family." his dark, wood-colored gaze was steady. "Does that count, or do you still plan to turn me in?"

"Do I have a choice?" Rex answered hostilely. The question was more to himself than to Cut. They were interrupted by Shaeeah, who came running into the barn with a younger Twi'lek boy who also had some distinctive human characteristics right behind her. Suu was looking from her injured guest to her husband with a well-masked worried expression.

"Daddy!" Shaeeah exclaimed. "You're home!" Cut's faced broke out into an indulgent smile as he bent down to hug the two children. The boy held up a piece of flimsi with a colorful illustration on it proudly.

"Look what I drew you, dad!" Cut was laughing as he rubbed the top of the boy's head.

"That's great, Jekk," he praised. Rex watched them interact, an odd feeling settling into the pit of his stomach. Maybe it was the paternal expression on Cut's face or how the two kids looked at him like he was their universe, but he suddenly felt as if there was a gaping hole in his life and he had no idea what he needed to do to fill it.

"I see you two have met," Suu commented neutrally as she came to stand in the doorway.

"He looks just like you, Daddy," Shaeeah said excitedly, oblivious to the tension in the air. "I told him!" Rex found himself being not quite successful at repressing a small smile from turning up the corners of his mouth, but it faded quickly because he still had that feeling and it was in direct conflict with his anger at Cut's desertion.

"You did, huh?" Cut asked meaningfully- the meaning for Rex- as he stood back up. "Well I was just making our guest Captain, um..." realization cased his face. "What's your number?" The self-righteous smirk helped alleviate some of the other feeling Rex had.

"Rex," he snapped irritably, responding to the degrading question appropriately. "I also have a name, believe it or not."

"He was injured," Suu explained to her husband before either of them said something that resulted in a brawl. "His men brought him here, and I told him he could stay for the night."

"Well, course he can," Cut responded immediately. "We never turn away anyone in need, do we?" It was interesting, Rex noted, how some things were just so deeply ingrained into you that you never lost them. For Cut, hearing that Rex had been injured was the magic phrase. The irritable, annoyed look in his eyes faded and his jaw set into the slightest of an indignant clench. He might have been a deserter, but clone bonds ran deep and Rex was- while a complete stranger and currently at odds with him- still a brother when it came down between him and the droids that had hurt him.

"No," Jekk answered his father's question. "We always help anyone we can."

"Right." Cut cleared his throat and turned awkwardly to the captain. "You uh... you look hungry, Rex."

"No I'm- I'm fine," Rex replied quickly, quietly. "I'll stay here."

"No," Jekk protested, his tiny hands grabbing hold of the side of the table while he bounced up and down on his toes. "You have to eat with us! Please?"

"Please?" His sister added, putting on one of the most adorable faces Rex had ever seen. They began begging.

"They won't stop until you say yes," Cut explained, his voice taking on a convincing tone. Despite his outwardly inviting expression, Rex could see the tensed muscles and defensive stance that clearly indicated that he was uneasy. The kids continued begging.

"All right," Rex sighed. "I'll join you."

"Yes!"

"All right!" The pair cheered, hopping backward towards the door. Cut reached out without a word and grasped Rex's good arm to help him off the table, an odd look crossing his face as he did so. He hid his instinctual concern very well when Rex winced at putting full weight on his own feet, and neither of the two thought anything of it when Rex wrapped his good arm across the back of Cut's neck to steady him as they walked to the house. At least, that was until Shaeeah asked why they were walking that way and they realized they'd fallen back on basic battlefield procedure out of habit. At that point Rex insisted on getting to the house on his own because Cut was clearly uncomfortable at the way he'd gone back to what was familiar.

Suu had an impressive meal prepared for them all when they got it, and Shaeeah proudly explained that she had helped prepare it while Jekk complained about having to help clean up later as a result. Cut was serving the food when the boy asked why they looked alike, and without thinking Rex replied that they were clones. The confused looks on both the children's face told him that they didn't understand what that meant, and while Cut didn't appear upset that that had been explained to them he _did _seem offended when Rex used the off-handed statement to clarify that being a clone meant that they were all identical and one among several other million.

"Yes, well," Cut responded, knifing into the meat with a little more force than was necessary, "you and I may be clones but we're still individuals." The little self-righteous smirk played across his face again. Rex was- unhappily- reminded of his squad brother Aeric whenever he saw it. "You've got a name rather than a number, Captain. So why is that?"

"Perhaps our leaders feel it's a more efficient way of distinguishing us," Rex retorted, processing this information. Cut's question stemmed from an adjustment period in the early days of the war when Jedi and clones alike were still getting a feel for the new chain of command and the dynamic of relationship it entailed. It told him that Cut hadn't been in the corps for quite a length of time.

"More efficient than a number?" Cut asked, amused. "I doubt the Kaminoans think that way." Rex resisted the urge to explain to him that Jedi identified people by their presence in the Force- however that worked- and so it was easier to remember a name than a number to go with that presence.

"Still-" Cut continued speaking- "a name has to make you feel unique. Especially in an army where everyone looks and talks like you and-"

"Actually, I've never given it much thought," Rex interrupted, uncomfortable by how close to the mark he was hitting. The smirk again.

"Yeah you have," Cut needled.

"And how would _you _know?" Rex retorted defensively, hackles up.

"Because I'm as close to _you _as any life-form can be," he replied smugly, leaning in so that their noses were only about a foot apart. Rex was suddenly looking into a mirror, and it had never bothered him before the way it was bothering him now. Cut leaned back out. "I've seen how you look at my family, our home." Jekk and Shaeeah had paused in their eating to watch Rex and their father talking. The curious expressions on their faces were having an effect on him that he wasn't comfortable with. "Rex, come on, admit it. You've thought about what it would be like if you were to leave the army and choose the life you wanted for yourself."

"Well, what if I _am _choosing the life I want? What if it _is _meaningful to me?" Rex questioned. He'd been maneuvered into a kill box and he'd never been of the friendliest of dispositions when he was trapped in one.

"And exactly how is it meaningful?" Cut asked.

"Because I'm part of the most pivotal moment in the history of the Republic," he replied. "If we fail, then our children and their children will be forced to live under an evil that I can't well imagine." He could, actually. He felt a shiver travel up his spine when he remembered how it felt to have himself choked by unseen fingers; the darkness and despair that seemed to taint the souls about Ventress wherever she went. And Dooku... Rex had heard that Dooku was worse.

"If you were to have children," Cut pointed out slowly. "But that would be against the rules, wouldn't it? That's just what someone programmed you to believe, Captain."

"Cut, that's simply what I believe," Rex sighed. He was tired of debate. "It doesn't matter of it's my children or someone else's. That meet with your approval?" It was polite speech for 'back off.'

"Perfectly. To each his own. That's what I always say."

"What does that mean, daddy?" Shaeeah asked.

"Means you can do anything with your life that you want to." Warm brown eyes flashed mischievously at Rex from across the table. "That's why there's so much diversity in the galaxy. Isn't that right, Captain?"

"You should get into politics," Rex muttered miserably. "You're wasted as a farmer."

"No need to be insulting. I'm just saying that it's hard to know who you are when you don't even have a culture to call your own." Rex looked straight at him and, for once, _he_ was the one to flash the self-righteous smirk.

"Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod?" It was extremely satisfying to watch the blood drain from Cut's face.

"Oh... you're one of _them_," he murmured, suddenly becoming very interested in his food.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Dinner had been over for the better part of ten minutes before the kids had finished cleaning up. During that time Rex and Cut had called a temporary truce on the grounds that Cut was itching for a game of Dejarik with an opponent who was tactically skilled as his equal. It was quickly becoming apparent that Rex's field experience as an officer was giving him a definitive advantage.

"I missed this," he said suddenly at one point and offered no explanation whatsoever. All the same, Rex got the feeling that he wasn't talking about the game.

"Good move," Cut murmured for about the fifth time, then added almost defeatedly, "Very good move..."

"So what was it then?" Rex asked, making the question seem off-handed.

"What was it that made me decide to leave the corps?"

"Yeah." Cut watched the holographic figures battling it out on the checkered table and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

" ...Shortly after the Battle of Geonosis our troop transport got caught between two Separatist gunships. They gave everything they got, and we crashed. Most of us dead or severely injured. They sent Hunters out to kill off the survivors. I knew there was no hope. And... I ran. Still haunts me." He squarely met Rex in the eye, and the Captain saw the guilt there.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, and meant it.

"Day I felt like my life didn't have any meaning," Cut said, standing to look out the window. "Everyone I cared about, gone just like that. He looked back at his family, haze haunted. "Just one more expendable clone waiting for my turn to be slaughtered in a war that made no sense to me. Can you understand that, Rex?"

"I've been in countless battles. Lost... lost many brothers," Rex admitted. His good fist clenched as his PTS kicked up, and he was suddenly back on Teth. "They... were my family." He couldn't look Cut in the eye, because it made the hallucination worse. He looked back at the Dejarik table, the constant flickering images somehow helping to ease the episode. "My home."

Cut inhaled deeply as he sat back at the table.

"We finished our chores," Shaeeah said as she and her brother came running up to them. "Can we go outside and play?"

"Please?" Jekk added.

"Only for a few minutes," Cut agreed. "It's almost time for you to go to bed."

"Thanks daddy. C'mon, Jekk!"

"Keep the house in view!'

"We will!" Rex smiled as he watched them run out the door.

"You have wonderful children," he murmured.

"I know you think I'm a coward, Rex, but I'll fight to my last breath to keep them safe," Cut vowed. The look on his face was one that Rex had seen on Cody's. On Gree's, on Jet's. Even Bacara's at one point. It was certainly one he himself had worn on more than one occasion.

"Something tells me you already have," Rex acknowledged as he watched Suu exit the room. There was a lacing network of scars across her back, typical of an electro-whip. Cut followed his gaze, eyes dark.

"When I crashed here I wandered the countryside for days before I found paid work, helping Suu's owner with the harvest. He... liked to have his way with her. Beat their kids something fierce when he'd had enough Durinfire rotting his insides, too."

"And then you tanned his hide within an inch of his life for it, he skipped planet and never came back, and here we are," Suu interrupted, giving her husband's foot a thorough kick as she re-entered the room. "Go back to your game and leave what's past in the past." They all looked toward the door when they heard screaming in the field.

"Somehow I don't think that's a possibility tonight," Rex murmured as Cut threw open the door and their kids ran straight into their parent's arms.

"Shaeeah, Jekk, what's wrong?" Cut asked sharply.

"Monsters," Shaeeah whimpered. "They were chasing us."

"What monsters?" Suu replied soothingly. "Where?" Cut wasn't moving. He had frozen on the spot, staring expectantly out into the darkness. Every muscle in his body was tensed and rigid, eyes darting from point to point among the tall crops.

"They hatched from the big egg in the field!" Shaeeah exclaimed, darting back through the door of the house so that she was closer to her mother. Cut suddenly jerked back around, and he and Rex exchanged a knowing glance as the former trooper went for his standard issue electrobinoculars hanging off a peg in the wall near the door frame. Droids used escape pods, too. Snatching the binoculars, Cut scanned slowly from side to side in an arcing motion. He paused at a specific point, thumb running smoothly over the zooming control as he focused in.

"Not good," he muttered, completely absorbed in his task. The light-hearted veneer had been swiftly replaced with the experienced soldier. "I count twenty." Rex peered over his shoulder and spotted movement in the crops, but it was too dark and far out to get any clear idea of the enemy except that they were non-biological based on the sparks and the heavy metallic footfalls.

"Cut, what's out there?" Suu asked quietly. Jekk had his face buried into her neck.

"Commando droids," he spat.

"What are they doing?" Rex questioned urgently. He knew it wasn't good when Cut ignored him and moved back into the house. They were coming here.

"Suu, get the kids upstairs!" Suu did as she was told and ushered them further from harm while her husband quickly shut the door and bolted the lock from the inside. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

"What weapons do you have?" Rex asked. He had a sneaking suspicion that the farm was much better armed than any other typical one on the planet, and wasn't disappointed when Cut opened up a nearby closet and revealed a small arsenal. It was almost blissful to see that they were all GAR issue. A strategy was already forming in his mind. "So we can catch them in a crossfire. If you take that corner-"

"No, Captain." Cut paused just long enough to glance over his shoulder. Rex was surprised to see deference there. "With respect, you're not in charge here." Rex suddenly understood what he was saying, and there was no way he was backing out of a fight like this.

"Look, I- I can be useful," he reasoned. Cut sighed.

"Sir, you're injured. To the point that you've only got one good arm."

"I can still fight!" Rex was bristling now. His boys were tracking Grievous and might be engaging him at that very moment, and he was sitting it out. Now the family which had been quite courteous toward him was in danger- a _brother_ was in danger- and he was still being directed to the sidelines. Cut's eyes were stern.

"Yeah, so can I. And I- Rex, I need you to be the last line of defense. For my family." Rex blinked a few times, surprised and suddenly aware of the responsibility that Cut was entrusting him to.

"I'll... take care of them," he replied heavily, moving toward the stairs.

"Thank you."

Suu had both of the kids in the corner farthest from the steps as she could get them, her body in front of theirs. She met Rex's gaze as he placed himself squarely in between the entrance to the upper level and Cut's family. He could hear Cut downstairs, bolting more doors and turning out lights. Silence fell thickly over the farmhouse as they waited. There was a sudden explosion of blasterfire and sizzling metal, and Rex tensed where he crouched on his heels in anticipation. A small lull in the fighting, punctuated by ragged breathing. The fighting started up again, and Rex dodged just at the right moment as a red bolt came up through the floor only inches from his foot. The adrenaline was flowing freely now, and the pain in his chest was forgotten. All that mattered was the brawl.

A crash of wood, and Cut cried out in pain. His voiced traveled clearly through the floorboards.

"Rex! They're coming for you!"

Rex moved to a newer position at the top of the steps that offered better cover and waited, forcing deep, quiet breaths and exhales through his nose. He took a few shots before they located him, and he had to fall back down the narrow hallway. In shooting the droid it missed him and instead shot the floor out from underneath him; he went crashing onto the first floor right next to Cut. The remaining Commando droid closed in. One wrapped its cool metal fingers about his throat and started squeezing. Cut picked up his discarded blaster and shot it right through one of its glowing eye slits. It dropped to the ground and took Rex with it, the grip on his throat relaxing. He leaned heavily against the wall and felt at his neck, breaths coming in rasps that hurt like fire. A small, timid voice could be heard above them.

"D-daddy? Daddy?" Jekk called. Rex and Cut looked up through the hole in the ceiling to see all three of them peering down.

"I'm okay," Cut replied, grunting as he stood back up. "It's over."

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"How long do you think it'll take you to get everything sorted back the way it was?" Rex asked as he dabbed at a gash above Cut's left eye.

"Couple of days," Cut replied with a shrug. He was watching his children sleeping in their mother's lap was a detached look upon his face. "I can't really explain it, but... I know that, technically speaking, Shaeeah and Jekk aren't mine. And yet... it feels like they are. I'd do anything for them."

"Aliit ori'shya tal'din," Rex commented understandingly. Cut just looked at him, confused. He smiled. "It's a Mandalorian proverb. 'Family is more than blood.'"

"Guess I shouldn't judge Mandos too harshly," Cut muttered good-naturedly. "They and I seem to agree on quite a few things." He sat backward, rolling his shoulder in its socket and wincing because it was sore. In the process of doing so he knocked a bowl off the table, and Rex caught it neatly with his left hand while he still worked on cleaning out the wound with his right. "Guess you've got full function back, then."

"Mmhmm." Cut seemed to be debating something with himself.

"Rex? I want you to know that what happened- what you did for us-" he was interrupted by Rex's communicator, which was beeping in the pile of armor plates stacked near the table leg. He'd brought all of his gear in from the barn just in case more droids showed up and they needed it. He looked expectantly at Cut who shrugged and indicated that he should take the call.

"Jesse?" Rex guessed. He smiled slightly when he heard Jesse's voice coming through.

_"The one and only, Alor'ad. How'd you enjoy your R&R? Anything exciting happen?"_

"All quiet here." Rex and Cut exchanged an ironic smirk. "And yes, before you ask on Kix's behalf, I'm doing a lot better."

_"Glad to hear it. Look, I'm patching the coordinates of the rendezvous to your HUD guidance system. We're shipping out at 1800."_

"You find Grievous?"

_"Chased, found, fought, just missed him." _Rex and Jesse sighed at the same time. _"Kenobi's fuming. Mad at himself rather than us, but y'know."_

"Yeah, I do," Rex murmured. "I'll see you at 1800 then."

_"Will do. Jesse out."_

"He seems like a good man," Cut commented neutrally.

"Never a more reliable Sergeant or loyal brother to be found," Rex agreed as he began putting on his boots and lower leg plates. "You were about to say something and make both of us incredibly uncomfortable before that call came in. So go on, don't stop on my behalf."

"I was just going to say that I'd forgotten what it was like to be with a brother," Cut said awkwardly. "I didn't know I'd missed that. And thank you, for showing me that completely ignoring who I was meant that I was still running from who I could be."

"I guess we both learned something from this little adventure then," Rex replied. Cut smiled appreciatively.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

It was nearing 1400 when Rex decided to head out. Or rather, when Shaeeah and Jekk allowed him to. The two children insisted on hearing about some of his battles, and when Cut protested they had asked whether he wanted to share some of his instead. So Rex gave them the highlights, the honorable mentions, and glossed over the gory details so that they sounded more glamorous than they really were. He made sure to mention the Second Battle of Geonosis because he felt Cut had a right to know that they had to go in again to finish what they'd already started, but for the most part the story-telling really only benefitted as a distraction so that the two kids wouldn't be as pre-occupied with the attack on their house the night before. They seemed to be especially fascinated by the Jedi.

At 1400 he was preparing to set out on one of the Lawquane's animals when Suu called to him from the door. It was the only occasion in which she had sounded timid.

"Captain Rex?" She asked. "Will you be turning my husband in?"

"Sorry Suu," Rex replied in his gravest most serious tone. "It's my duty." He then raised a mischievous eyebrow at them and pretended to be incredibly interested in his helmet. " ...But in my condition I probably won't remember any of this."

"Thank you," she breathed, leaning into her husband's arm as he wrapped it around her. His gaze was fixed on the ground.

"You're still a deserter, Cut," Rex added. "But a coward? Not so much." Cut finally looked back at him and smiled.

_"Captain Rex? Still with us?" _An accented, precise voice crackled over the comm.

"Yes, General Kenobi. Still with ya, and thankfully on the mend, sir."

_"Great news. We missed you at the party."_

"Sorry. Had to attend one of my own." He glanced back at Shaeeah, who was poking her dozing brother's face while their mother sighed in exasperation.

_"Can't wait to hear about it. Standing by at the rendezvous. The ship's late... as usual."_

"You're welcome to stay, you know," Cut said unexpectedly.

"Nah. This is your home, Cut. But my family? It's elsewhere." They exchanged a knowing look, and Cut gave him a nod. He mounted the animal gingerly because he still didn't have full strength in his left arm, and heard Shaeeah and Jekk calling goodbyes after him as he set out. He gave them a wave, noticed Cut fire off a purposefully sloppy salute out of the corner of his eye, and began heading toward the rendezvous.

Topping a hill, he spotted the gunships idling; there were definitely still a few missing. Dismounting from the beast he persuaded it back in the direction of home and walked the last few meters down the steep incline under his own steam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod? - Are you looking for a smack in the face, mate? (Mando'a)


	32. Recovery

Kix was starting to come off of a very long night and day of bandaging up brothers as best he could. His current- and last patient- always seemed to inevitably be Jesse. He smiled innocently as Kix wrapped his arm securely in gauze with a bacta application. 

"Why is it always you?" Kix muttered. The Sergeant shrugged, and Kix smacked him on the back of the head for moving. 

"I can't help it if I'm popular with the Seps." 

"Maybe it has something to do with you _literally _painting a target on your helmet."

"I'm very patriotic," Jesse defended, motioning to the Republic logo also tattooed over the better part of his face. Kix smacked him once again for moving. "Ow."

"Stop squirming." The two more seasoned troopers glanced over to the cluster of men circling Hardcase as he delivered an in-depth and incredibly exaggerated story about how their captain had been injured. The rest of the Old Guard- which now included Fives and Echo for some reason- pointedly ignored him and ambled over to their fellow veterans instead. 

"How bad was it, really?" Ailen asked. 

"We almost had a commanding officer vacancy," Jesse replied truthfully. He focused on Brye, who was uncharacteristically quiet and subdued. Though neither Sergeant really cared for the other Jesse was making an effort to be sympathetic. "Don't worry, ner vod. I spoke to him myself a few hours ago. He was just as well as ever." 

"Which means he was probably up and about and getting into all sorts of trouble long before he should have been," Kix commented drily as he tied off Jesse's bandage. "There. Mess that shoulder up again and I'll shoot you myself."

"Besides," Echo added brightly, "Rex can take care of himself."

"Hmm?" Brye murmured. Kix suddenly noticed the far-off look in his eyes. "Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention. This whole thing reminded me of Teri, and how he nearly got 'reassigned' because he broke his ankle during training and the blasted thing wouldn't heal."

"Teri was your squad brother?" Denal asked. 

"Still is. Rex and I's." Fives and Echo seemed surprised by this information.

"At any rate-" Kix changed the subject awkwardly- "We left him with a potentially lethal farmer watching after him so I doubt he got up to much last night." 

"You wish," a tired-sounding voice replied sardonically. Rex glanced over at the rest of Torrent Company. "And for the record, Hardcase, we both know it wasn't anywhere near as exciting as that." Hardcase grinned sheepishly and Tup elbowed him in the ribs. Fives had been surveying the droid's handiwork on Rex's chestplate.

"Yeesh," he muttered, poking his finger in the charred hole. Rex raised an eyebrow at him but did nothing to stop him. "This'll take at _least_ a few days to patch up in procurement."

"Good," Kix stated. "I have an excuse to keep him on ship longer that way."

"You get two days," Rex replied. "After that I'm jumping out the airlock if I have to." There were scattered chuckles throughout the Company. He spotted Cody watching nearby and, after catching up on the current state of things and throwing out some guidelines regarding evac, he meandered over to the 212th Commander. A few shinies in golden-orange paint passed by them with wide eyes when they saw the blaster hole. 

"Kept your boys on reserve for the most part," Cody explained without preamble. "They seemed a bit distracted." 

"Thank you." 

"You okay?"

"Just tired. Nothing some rest and bacta won't fix."

"I have a feeling Kix won't let you get away with that," Cody surmised as he watched his own medic, Jaden, relocate someone's shoulder and then forcibly grab him by his good arm to steer him toward the group evac for injured despite the trooper's continued protesting. Rex squinted against the sun's glare to see better. It looked like Waxer. 

"Well he can deal with it because no one wants me around when I've got cabin fever." Cody groaned. "What?" 

"Just thinking back to command training," he sighed. "I was watching you pacing that square box up and down waiting to be let out and I remember thinking "I _never _want to be partnered with him." Rex laughed. 

"Oh... well that's irony for you. Personally, I saw _you _in training and decided right off the bat that we were never gonna work well together." 

"Yeah... so that makes this partnership of ours a- what- 3 in 5,000 chance of working?"

"Never tell me the odds, ner vod."

"Guess lightning _does _strike twice."

"Huh?" 

"Skywalker and Kenobi."

"Oh. I don't consider that a miracle of fate considering that Kenobi's late master Qui-Gon Jinn practically maneuvered them into working together when he died." 

"Heard that story too, huh?" 

"Yep." 

"Kix is looking for you and he doesn't look happy," Cody observed. He smiled as Rex slipped behind him and hid as the medic walked past. The Captain suddenly yelped as he was grabbed under the arms. Brye began walking away carrying him bridal style.

"Hey, Kix! Found him!" 

"Nice job mate!" 

"Put me down."

"Nope."

"Brye..." 

"I'm just looking out for my baby brother's well-being." 

"_Brye..." _

Cody was in stitches by the time Kenobi made it over to him. The Jedi took one look at the situation and allowed himself an unreserved laugh or two. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Kenobi took the thrashing from Skywalker for getting his Captain nearly killed with all the grace and patience which the Jedi were renowned for. Everyone on the ship heard it- mostly because one of the technicians had "accidentally" hit the 'broadcast to all decks' button on the comm and they happened to be speaking directly in front of the speaker. Rex glanced up from the game of Sabbaac he was playing with a mixed group of 501st an 212th- including Cody, who was taking them all to the cleaners- and raised an eyebrow before looking back down at his cards.

"Nice to know he cares," he said casually before throwing a package of dried fruit into the middle of the game pool. "Raising the stakes. In or out?"

"In," Cody said immediately, tossing some roba jerky onto the pile. Several men dropped out, and unsurprisingly Fives was determined to hang on. Everyone knew he was bluffing but they didn't let on. He was just such a terrible Sabbaac player that they took pity on him. The man couldn't lie convincingly to save his own skin. Hardcase, on the other hand... he was sitting stone-faced and completely still at the other end and some of the men were uncertain as to whether he was still breathing or not. 

Rex leaned over to whisper into Cody's ear. 

"Remind me to triple check everything he turns in," he murmured. 

"Will do." 

"Hang on, game pause," Denal said suddenly. "I think Skywalker just brought Kenobi's mother into this." They all paused to listen. Actual sand was brought in to the argument at one point, and that was when Anakin lost it. There was the sound of something breaking and then Yularen calling for tranquility on his bridge before a series of yelps were heard; undoubtedly the Admiral had decided that the only Peacekeeper he needed at the moment was himself. He hadn't earned his rank for being a pacifist. 

The clones listened passively before continuing their game without any cause for excitement occurring to distract them from it. Hardcase cashed in a set of illegal firecrackers and everyone folded. He'd been bluffing the entire time. 

"Quadruple check," Cody and Rex simultaneously murmured to each other as they watched their loot being claimed by its new owner. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"Rex, seriously, sit down," Ailen coaxed. They were on route to their next mission and it was a few days out. From the far reaches of the Outer Rim to Coruscant's backyard were long voyages. Naturally, Kix was ecstatic. Rex wanted to scream. He'd been confined to barracks after helping out with supply relocation and was sick of it. He felt entirely fine. 

"Look, at least stop pacing?" Echo suggested. "You're putting _me _on edge." 

"Sorry." Rex stopped for a few moments and then started up again. Tup dropped his face into his hands and the fell over backward onto his bunk with a groan.

"Next time I see Kix I'm gonna kill him," Jesse vowed as he clutched his pillow over his head.

"I thought you and he were as close as could be," Hardcase commented. Everyone groaned, and he had the nerve to look offended. "What? I could go into poetry. You're clearly not appreciating my untapped potential." 

"Rex, _sit down,_" Fives barked irritably. He'd pulled a double shift to win a bet with Denal and was trying to sleep. "I'm not afraid to tranq my commanding officer." Rex waited just long enough that he could say he wasn't taking an order just to prove a point before doing as he was told, sliding down a bunk post to sit with his back against it on the floor. When you were trapped in your barracks petty satisfaction was the only thing that kept you going. 

Brye has avoided him for most of the two days since getting back to the ship. Now he entered the barracks and, seeing Rex reclining stubbornly on the ground, he walked right over and curled up against his side without any explanation. 

"You could have died," he said after several minutes of silence. 

"I didn't," Rex pointed out gently. 

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost a squad brother. I know I talk a good game about how nothing gets to me, but... it does. And I don't like how it feels when one of my brothers is injured and I can't do anything about it." 

"We were all pretty upset," Hardcase added unexpectedly. He came walking over and sat on the bunk directly behind Rex's head. "I actually saw you get hit. It was like the world froze or something."

"No more reckless heroics," Brye mumbled sleepily. "Deal?" 

"No promises," Rex replied truthfully. 

He wasn't certain on the when or how, but Rex woke up from a light doze to find himself once again in the center of a mush pile in the middle of the barracks. This time pillows and blankets were all tangled up in the mix, and somehow or other Echo had ended up in his lap breathing lightly against his chest. Why someone always curled up in his lap like a two year old youngling he never understood, and it was always a completely different person each time. It was like they were taking turns cuddling with their older brother or something. 

Whatever the reason, Rex found it incredibly hard to breathe with at least five other bodies pressed against his shoulders, back, and torso. He was being crushed to death with affection. Of course, he'd been one hundred percent correct when he'd informed Cut that his family was elsewhere. His family was currently cuddling him into submission.


	33. War Games I

"It's over Cody!" Rex shouted. "I have the high ground!" 

"You underestimate my power," Cody retorted warningly. Rex shook his head, willing him to submit.

"Don't try it." Cody ignored him, backing up to the edge of the drifting platform and preparing to jump.

48 Hours Prior...

"You know this is going to end badly, right?" Cody whispered, leaning in close to Rex's ear. Despite his precaution, everyone else seemed to hear it.

"Crash and burn," Blye added.

"No one's getting out alive," Wolffe agreed.

"Complete, utter suicide." Jet.

"It was nice knowing all of you," Ponds muttered.

"Come on, it's not going to be that bad," Fox protested mildly. 

We are descending into chaos," Gree sighed. 

"What do you say, Bac?" Herc asked. Bacara raised an eyebrow at him and said nothing. Neyo just stared stonily ahead. "...Okay. Neyo? ...Wow. Cheery reception. Me? I think we're in for an interesting time." 

"If by 'interesting' you mean total massacre," Grey interjected.

"I like to think of it as finally knowing who'll come out on top," Styles offered.

"We're currently in a decaying orbit called the Seventh Circle of Hell," Rex muttered. The other commanding officers in the lineup turned to stare at him. "What?" 

"You've been spending too much time with Kenobi," Cody murmured, clearly disturbed. 

"Well however this ends up, I'd prefer to say right now that it's been an honor serving with you boys," Blye stated. They all took a collective breath and then hesitantly stepped out of the base into the fresh mountain plain environment that was Alderaan. 

Their men were already set up in camps, crossing over into one another's territory now and then for a game of Sabbaac or to steal someone's razor. The thief was always promptly apprehended fleeing the scene. 

"I can't believe they're making a spectacle of this," Bacara muttered bad-temperedly.

"You could've said no," Herc pointed out. The Commander seemed to be making it his life's mission to keep Bacara and Neyo as annoyed as possible during this little excursion. 

"Here comes trouble," Gree said good-naturedly as Ahsoka came trotting up to them with Barriss and two other Padawans in tow. One was extremely young, no more than ten or twelve; a Pantoran girl. The other was Ahsoka's age; about a year off. He was human, with shaggy brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail and a mischievious expression on his face. 

"Padawans," Neyo muttered dismissively under his breath. "Bunch of kids running around with glow sticks pretending they know anything about war." 

"Oh, so you're in a good mood today," Cody retorted sarcastically. The Pantoran went right up to Herc and stood waiting expectantly, lavender hair in a whispy braid that somehow managed to entirely hide her smaller Padawan one. The Commander sighed.

"The things I do for the Republic..." He picked her up when she gave him a winning smile and set her on his shoulders, where she perched with her arms and chin resting on the top of his head and played with the curly black hair. 

"New General, Herc?" Blye laughed. 

"This is Shori. Shori Tadessin. She's General Eerin's new Padawan learner."

"Wouldn't that be Commander Tadessin then?" Gree asked. Barriss nudged him gently in the arm. He nudged back. Herc shook his head.

"Nah. Only eleven. Too young to even be a Padawan, by the Council's standards. Eerin had a fight to let her begin the kid's training early. Shori doesn't hold rank." He glanced upward to look at her. She smiled again. The other Commanders exchanged a knowing look; Herc was so tightly wrapped around her little finger he could qualify as serpentine. 

"It'll be a shame to see you get smoked," Ahsoka said as she came to stand right in between Cody and Rex. Her comment had been directed at the Commander. "I really like you." 

"And what makes you think I'll get smoked?" Cody asked, pretending to look intrigued. Ahsoka punched Rex in the stomach. Hard. 

"'Cause of this guy. Right?"

"Right," Rex wheezed, blinking back involuntary tears of pain. Caleb was speaking excitedly with Captain Styles and Commander Grey, his joint officers under Master Billaba. Grey nudged the Padawan's shoulder playfully, and Styles ruffled his hair. 

"See, Padawans are like exotic pets," Rex explained to a confused-looking Jet, who had never had nor probably ever would have to work alongside one. "They're cute when they're little but bite when they get older." He got punched in the stomach by Ahsoka again. "... worth it..." 

"If we could have all Commanding Officers at the large grey rock, we can begin," Plo Koon said over the general comm frequency. They made their way their with the Padawans, coming to a stop in a wide fanning semi-circle around the numerous Jedi Generals standing there. It was odd to see so many at any one time unless you were at the Temple. 

Alderaan had recently become a refueling center for the Republic fleet, and it just so happened that the training-required War Games had been allowed to be held here. On this occasion, it was only the commanding officers that were participating; their troops would be joining in at a later occasion. The Generals had decided to have some fun first by pitting their officers against one another. ...Not that the officers themselves had opposed the idea... 

"Right then," Mundi said pleasantly. "Shall we get started?" No one said anything. "I'll take your silence as agreement. Now, there will be five stages of these war games. Group, pairs, single, and then two in company, one of which will be coordinated by the Padawans solely. Points will be rewarded by ingenuity, skill, ability to command, tactical prowess, and originality. Now we Jedi like to profess that we are impartial, but in this instance I think it is obvious that we won't be. Senator Organa was kind enough to volunteer himself and two other nobles from different houses to act as judges. Any questions?"

"Alright, break!" Anakin said, mimicking the sports announcers. The commanders laughed, and Mundi sighed slightly before playing it off. 

"Play by the rules of honorary combat," Unduli cautioned with a pointed look at Neyo and Bacara. Gree gave her a salute. 

"Sure thing, general." 

Rex and Cody were enjoying their last few moments of peace before the big event in the branches of a large tree, looking out over the still surface of a slow-moving river. Thick green grass rippled with every gust of wind, and the rustling leaves sounded like soft, high-pitched thunder. The far-off mountains were capped in shimmering layers of snow, and the windows of the palaces glowed dark pink fire in the setting sun while a vast array of stars- partially obscured by the thick layer of fluffy clouds- peppered the bruised purple sky. It was the most peaceful and beautiful place Rex had ever seen. 

He heard a slight crackling noise and glanced over to see Cody freeing something from its metallic wrapping. Rex nearly fell out of the tree when he saw what it was. 

"I never took you for the rebellious sort," he coughed; some of the water he had sipped from his thermos had gone down the wrong way. Cody turned the set of high-quality spice vapors over in his fingers, a bemused expression on his face.

"House Alde noble gave them to me for explaining which way his palace was while he was stone drop dead drunk," the Commander explained. "Wouldn't leave until I took them." He twirled the long, thin objects in his fingers again. "I've never understood why people insist on dulling their survival instincts and damaging their organ tissues."

"Everyone's got a hobby?" Rex offered hesitantly with a shrug. Cody raised an eyebrow. He wrapped the vapors up again and pocketed them. 

"I'll probably find a use for them in the next seedy outer rim bar we stumble into trying to gather information," he sighed. He then frowned. "What is it with Kenobi and bar-hopping for crucial data anyway?"

"I heard Skywalker say that his Master Qui-Gon Jinn would often do that. Skywalker himself does it a lot too... when he's not too busy legitimately talking up the smugglers and trying to pick up new pilot tricks."

"Jedi are weird," Cody muttered, taking a water sip from his thermos. He and Rex knocked drink containers as they looked out over the landscape. 

"Agreed. And may the better man win."

"It won't be Starbolts quality by any stretch of the imagination, but we'll do our best to put on a good show." 

Rex smiled nostalgically at the comment and returned to admiring the flawless landscape. 


	34. War Games II

Rex was in a light but fitful doze when he heard someone shout, and then the ensuing ruckus destroyed what was left of the quiet predawn.

He was almost afraid to open his eyes but he did so anyway, and when he did he groaned. Yeah, it was yet another mush pile. 

"I love you guys too, but sometimes I just need my personal space," he reasoned. Denal, who had been curled in a tight ball with his chin resting on his arms, scrambled out of his lap with an embarrassed shrug and somehow managed to squeeze himself a space on the ground next to Kix. Rex was beginning to think that they were all secretly reekcats.

The commotion continued. 

"What's going on?" Rex muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. _Five more minutes... couldn't he have had five more minutes..._

"Caught him red-handed," Fives said proudly as he and Brye ushered an annoyed and gagged Herc into their camp. "Sabotage, I'd wager. Jesse found a co-conspirator." Jesse and Hardcase dragged Grey up. He was also gagged and annoyed. 

"So what are we gonna do with 'em?" Hardcase asked. "We could press 'em for information." Both Commanders began struggling profusely. Herc mumbled something savagely through his gag.

"Untie them," Rex sighed. Brye looked at him as if he were nuts but did as instructed. 

"Thanks," Grey muttered, the stony expression on his face looking very much the opposite of meaning that. Herc seemed amused by the entire situation.

"Personal bodyguards, huh?" He said breezily. "Oh, don't mind Grey. This is the second time tonight he's been bound and gagged. Had to get past my defenses too." Grey huffed annoyance and stepped through the mob of troopers that were either lying or sitting between him and Rex, all of whom were wide awake and watching his every movement like shriek-hawks. 

"We're allowed to make our own alliances," the commander explained. "And we'd like you on ours."

"Ours including..." Rex said, waiting for one of them to expand on his statement.

"Possibly Bly."

"Hmm. It has potential."

"I can't be sure but as far as I heard Cody, Gree, and Jet are grouping with Styles. Fox, Ponds, and Wolffe are going together, and then Neyo and Bacara. Nobody wanted to work with them and they don't want to work with anybody else anyway."

"So the usual then," Herc added helpfully. Grey arched an eyebrow but said nothing further, and the two of them looked expectantly at Rex. "So whataya say? In or out?"

"In," Rex replied after a few moments of consideration. The two commanders appeared satisfied.

"Great. Then we'll see you around 0600 at the pavilion."

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The games began quite civilly but quickly regressed into all-out no holds barred guerrilla warfare. The problem, Rex reflected tiredly as he avoided a suspicious-looking box of innocent and vividly striped aquamarine fruit, was that they all knew each other too well.

So Rex was improvising. Instead of going about his usual way he always added the question "what would General Kenobi do" to every action he took, because Kenobi was about as far from Rex's initial inclinations as anyone could get. So far everyone was sufficiently confused... except for Cody. But that was to be expected.

In avoiding the fruit box he stepped right on a hoop of grappling wire. It snapped quickly around his foot and he was suddenly staring it the ground upside down, head reeling from the change in what was up and down. 

"Better change whose plans you're emulating, ner vod," Cody laughed as he dropped down from one of the branches with Gree beside him.

"Maybe I'll make up my own," Rex snapped, struggling in the tether about his ankle. Cody got an odd look on his face at that comment, but Gree just rolled his eyes and walked over to the box of fruit. He yelped as he went to pick one out, a snarling little beast with bristling spines attached to his forearm plate preventing him from doing so. There was a collar around one its abnormally long legs with a note attached. 

"I'm gonna kill Wolffe," Gree growled. 

"So uh... you gonna let me down?" Rex asked. Cody sighed. The two commanders looked round when a bright sizzle of fireworks exploded just over the hill of the horizon. 

"What was that!?" Gree exclaimed, still trying to get the animal to let go of his arm. 

"Just one of those original plans I was talking about," Rex replied smoothly as he grabbed his spare vibroknife and sliced the tether clean through. He landed neatly and completely balanced on one arm and pushed off of the ground to complete the escape; like a reekcat precisely onto his feet. He took off running with the other two in tow, laughing when the creature on Gree's arm launched itself at Cody's legs. 

Rex headed straight through the trees toward the fireworks, slipping in melting snow down a steep incline and pausing at the bottom to let his hammering heart realize he hadn't gone tumbling to his death before taking off again. Herc, Grey, and Bly came running from the opposite direction and grabbed him under the shoulders. They all went slamming into the ground, and Rex promptly rolled over onto his stomach to shield his face as the ground erupted and great chunks of dirt sprayed everywhere. They waited a few moments before tentatively lifting their heads to glance over their shoulders. 

"How many flares did you set on timer again?" Grey asked. 

"Five or six," Bly said uncertainly. They all stared at him.

"You don't _know?!_"

"Well I think-" Two more exploded only a few feet from them on either side.

"You were saying?" 

"-I think we chose a really bad spot to wait this out." A thick rock hit Herc on the back of the head and he grunted. 

"Ya think!?" 

"Well I'll tell you something," Rex coughed as they started running for all they were worth with two of the three enemy team flags slung under their arms, "I think we won this round."

"Styles is going to be kicking himself," Grey agreed, a triumphant smirk on his face as he thought about his co-commanding Captain.

"He won't be the only one!" Bly shouted excitedly as they ran past Neyo and Bacara watch them go by, eyes wide and faces surprised. Rex winked and kept on running. He felt as if his feet had wings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know in previous chapters I have spelled Commander Bly's name with an extra 'e' (making it Blye) but I came across something official recently and the 'e' isn't there so whoops :)


	35. War Games III

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" 

"Yes. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I'm just thinking about what they'll do to us if they catch us." 

"You need to have a little more faith." 

"I trust you. I don't trust your source."

"He's reliable."

"How is it you have connections in other peoples' units?"

"My spies are everywhere." 

Herc exhaled slowly into the chill pre-dawn air. They watched the vapors dissolve into the darkened sky without comment and waited for their prey to walk on by. 

"Do you have spies in _my_ unit?" Herc asked quietly. Rex gave a vague and mysterious smile. 

"Possibly." 

"That's reassuring."

"Sarcasm doesn't become you as much as you think it does."

"What a lovely compliment." They shifted farther away from the edge of the embankment overlooking the road as the sound of voices reached them. "Looks like your contact was correct."

"Like I said. Have a little faith."

"Well, you've made a believer out of me." Herc shot up off the ground at the exact same moment as Rex, and the two boys from the 212th had no idea what was going on. 

"Hurry up with that armor," Rex said worriedly as he slipped off his plates and switched them with one of the two trooper's sets. They needed the disguise of the golden-orange paint to get their scheme to work. 

"This might fool civvies, but it won't keep our boys duped for long," Herc pointed out as he slipped on the other trooper's helmet. "You know these guys personally? Might help if we know what we're supposed to be called." 

"You've got... Datek's plates. I've got... Tripwire's." They stowed their armor in some bushes and tied the real Datek and Tripwire to a tree before scurrying down the road and then pausing at the edge of the 212th's camp. 

"I see the maps out on the table," Rex said on a personal internal comm line between the two of them. The beautiful thing about being a clone was that everyone had the same armor set and measurements. 

"Copy. This isn't a trap, is it?"

"Relax. My source doesn't even know he _is _a source."

"You mean...?"

"Yep. Echo is good at talking and making it sound like he's giving everything away while in reality he's _getting _everything and giving _nothing_."

"Your men scare me." 

They walked through the camp with purpose, pretending the be deeply engaged in a private conversation while all the while getting nearer to the table. When they were close enough Herc nonchalantly slipped a data spike into the holo to copy all of the files, then implanted a bug and replaced the spike in a belt pouch.

"Got the intel."

"Great. Let's get out of here." They walked briskly to the edge of the camp and slipped into the dense underbrush just as a group of 212th troopers walked past. They booked it back to Tripwire and Datek, untied them, put their armor back on them, and left a little note saying "sorry, thought you were part of the Wolfpack" on it. They then put on their own armor and snuck back to Herc's camp to review what the spike had copied. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"This is perfect!" Herc said excitedly as they surveyed the information on a data pad. "You were right. Cody really _does _plan everything out beforehand." 

"Mhmm. Question is, what do we do with this?" 

"If we beat them to Organa Palace before they do we can recover that file and then use a rappel line to zip out of an upper story window on the cliff-side. No one will be the wiser."

"He thinks that Neyo will approach through the warrens, here. Where does he think we'll be coming from?" 

"Uh... hold on." Herc studied the map. There were several lines all colored according to which pair was which. One of them was in alternating navy and bright purple. "Oh. Here we are. Gotta say, compared to of all the pairings he predicted he got ours almost spot-on. _Almost. _Ravine was never a consideration."

"He knows me too well," Rex sighed. He then smiled, leaning on the edge of the table. "Which is why I'm leaving _all _the planning to you." 

"Smart." Herc began prodding the holo with a finger. "Since he expects us to take this route I figure we should oblige for the starting part. That way he doesn't know anything's up. Second, we diverge at this point here-" he pointed at a small, steep climb on the wall of the ravine- "to meet up with Wolffe and Bly. We cross their trail and avoid Neyo and Bacara that way. Now, Gree and Grey- that's kinda fun to say by the way-"

"Herc-"

"Sorry. So those two are our biggest problem if they're taking the ridge path. That's where I wanted to go. We have to get ahead of them if we're ever going to make it to the palace in time to intercept Fox and Ponds." 

"I like it," Rex said. "Risky, but sound. Remember that we have to get the star charts back to the pavilion before anyone else too." 

"I've got that handled." 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The sun was setting when they started out toward Organa palace, which was several klicks west of their position. Smartly, the family had decided to kill two mynock with one blaster shot and wanted the officers to test their security. They'd have to get past the defenses as if they were really intent on stealing something and not just trying to get the prize in their contest. It had taken a lot of doing to get the schematics for the complex and building without security noticing. 

"We'll have to make this good," Rex murmured as they walked through the ravine. He didn't understand why Cody had thought he would go this way... the hair on his neck stood on end as he heard phantom shrieks from Geonosians and he had to shake himself out of it. "And the sooner we get out of here the better."

"You okay?" Herc asked, concerned. Well, maybe he was concerned. Rex didn't know him all that well.

" ...Fine. Just been in too many kill boxes to be comfortable here." 

"Same..." Herc suppressed a shudder. "All right. Our escape from this death trap is only a few more meters to our left, up ahead." They crept foreward uneasily through the ravine until they came to a gravelly landslide in the side of the wounded rock. They moved up it and darted through the trees, then out onto a well-beaten dirt track. Following it for a ways, the forest soon opened out into alpine plain and the going became easier. The ground slopes down with gentle curve into a small valley, and in the distance they could clearly see the glimmering towers of Organa Palace.

"Here we go," Herc murmured. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Rex muttered back. There wasn't a soul around for miles. They were on their own. 

After scaling a sheer rock face and fending off some hungry wildlife they found themselves at the edge of a man-made cliff. The flattened terrain on which the palace had been built had been carved from the land, and it formed a sort of protective barrier on two of the four sides. It also just so happened to make for a convenient descent from the higher ground to the upper levels of the palace... if one was willing to climb, that is. And Rex and Herc were _very _eager. 

Shooting ascension cables, they rappeled over to the smooth walls and secured load-bearing line hooks in the stone surface before beginning a slow walk down the face toward a set of large stained-glass windows. 

"So pretty," Herc murmured between pants. "I almost hate to smash it." 

"I'm not." Rex leaned back on his safety line and pushed off of the wall, feet coming in for a well-placed kick to a small panel section. He winced when he heard the glass shatter. But hey, House Organa was getting a free test of palace security, so they could afford to replace a single pane in a window. He kept sailing through, detached his line, and rolled to a stop with one hand on the floor to steady himself and the other holding his drawn blaster, which was obviously set to stun. 

"We're in. Hallway secure."

"Copy that." Herc came in right behind him, rolled through the same maneuver, and straightened up with one hand grasping his pistol and the other twirling a small vibroblade. 

"You can put the knife down." 

" ...Yeah, that'd probably be for the best. Hmm... nice place. Little out of my price range but the view is extraordinary."

"I think we're not on their guest list." Herc shrugged as they walked down an extravagant hallway looking through open arches for unexpectedly guards.

"Too bad. I make a killer dessert."

"Yeah? What's it called?"

"Droid Flambé."

"You're hopeless." They paused at a staircase, checked behind their shoulders, and then began ascending. At the top there was a junction. 

"The data room is this way," Herc whispered, pointing right. Rex nodded. They continued on. At last they arrived at the data room. Herc hung back on his side of the opening, indicating that Rex go first. The Captain peered in and quickly settled back against the wall, cursing in fluent Mando'a whilst doing so. 

"Ooh, ooh, I think I know some of those," Herc commented excitedly. "First one means-"

"Ponds and Fox are inside already," Rex hissed. 

"Well your translation is way different than my translation." The Commander risked a glance over into the room. "So what are we gonna do? We can't just stand out here all night. We'll be discovered."

"They're right in the middle of slicing the data," Rex whispered slowly, "and any interruption during the hack will result in total system shutdown."

"So we let them finish and then fight for it," Herc replied unconcernedly. "Simple. Stun guns and a hasty escape back out that balcony overlooking the waterfall, and we can make the pavilion before sundown." 

"I wish I had your confidence," Rex murmured as he readied himself for a brawl. 

"I'm really not." Herc's voice took on a gravely serious tone. "I just hide it well. Have to, or else my boys pick up on the fact that very few of us are coming back from the fight." He let out a dry chuckle. "I actually really envy your capacity to tell your boys the facts true and not have them lose their faith in your ability to get them out. That kind of respect? You can't force that. Has to be earned." 

Rex took a deep breath and let it out slow, closing his eyes briefly to feel his diaphragm moving up and down.

"They've finished," he murmured quietly. Herc cleared his throat. 

"Yeah. Hey, teach me how to see out the back of my head next time huh? You didn't even look." 

"Listened in on their comm frequency." 

" ...Oh." They snuck into the room, silent and deadly. Naturally, Ponds and Fox were on alert and turned about to confront them. A brawl ensued. Herc kept chatting. "You have a reputation for being on par with Commandos, you know. ARCs. Maybe even Null ARCs."

"He'll be null in a minute when I get through with him!" Ponds yelped. Rex had clapped him upside the head with a very sturdy metal vase. It wasn't even dented, but Ponds' helmet sure was. Rex ducked an under-calculated and wild swing of retaliation. 

"Sorry, ner vod. Nothing personal." 

"Got the star charts?" Herc asked. 

"No. You?" 

"Uh... C'mere, Foxy. Much obliged. Got it. Let's get out of here." 

" ...Did you just drop drapes on his head?" 

" ...No." 

They took off running back the way they had come, skidding around a corner. Rex could see the stairs in sight.

"Left at the junction."

"Right."

"There is no right!"

"I know!" 

Then we go left?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Right then. Let's go!" Rex paused on the stairs. 

"What is this, Opposite Day?" He asked, exasperated. Herc just shrugged.

"Well ya got me. I'm ambidextrous." 

"Get back here!" Fox shouted. Herc cast a glance at Rex. It was hard to tell what his expression was because of the helmet, but his attitude suggested 'smirk.' He gestured toward the stairs.

"Shall we?" They took the steps in twos, did a sharp turn at another junction, and suddenly had a pack of security guards on their tail. They ran past a large ballroom area and saw Grey and Gree having a fight for it. Rex whistled loudly and it was enough of a distraction that the Organa guards were confused. The two Commanders were now also in pursuit. 

"What did you do that for!?" Herc exclaimed. The hallway was getting lighter, and as they rounded a curve they saw an expansive bay of windows and glass doors that lead to a large balcony. 

"Shake things up a little bit?" They burst through the doors, were across the patio, and leaping off of the stone railing. Wind went whistling by and Rex began to mentally count. _19, 20, 21... 34. _

"Now!" He opened his windsailing harness from where it had been resting against his back, the straps that had been loosely binding the sturdy fabric to his arms and about his pelvis going taut. Herc had done the same. Rex looked down and laughed. Their shadows looked an awful lot like the Aiwha mounts that were such a popular form of transport on Kamino. 

Cody and Styles came running out the front of the palace with a bunch of guards in tow. All of them stopped to watch them escape on a strong wind current. In planning your escape, it was always a good idea to check the weather. 

The harnesses got them within visual of the pavilion, carrying them farther ahead than they had originally planned. They made a landing run, dropped the harnesses, and kept going. When they got to the pavilion they dropped the star charts on a table in front of Senator Bail Organa and removed their helmets, laughing and panting at the same time. Anakin punched Obi-wan in the shoulder and Plo Koon looked mildly depressed. It was a good evening.


	36. War Games IV

It was getting increasingly difficult to see as the rain continued to pour, every once in a while mutating into sleet before warming enough to become water again. 

It had been raining for the better part of two days, and Rex had been sleeping in a stupid tree for the better part of them because Wolffe was on the prowl below with stun darts. They were nearing the end of the third part of the war games, and they were all feeling the stress. Once the chimes went off they all had exactly 60 minutes to reach each checkpoint before they were disqualified. The last one to make it through the most checkpoints before disqualification would be the winner of the round and have all of their collective points from the entire ordeal tallied for the final score. And Wolffe had him treed. 

Rex had been toying with an idea since earlier that morning, and when Wolffe finally fell asleep he shimmied carefully along a thicker branch and began tabbing through the tree. He took a deep breath to settle his nerves and then leapt into a neighboring one, tabbed through that, and then kept up the process until he was quite a ways away from where he'd started.

Making sure that no one was nearby, Rex slipped down the thick trunk of his latest perch and onto a gravelly stretch of ground. It was nice to have earth under his boots again. 

"Shelter," he murmured to himself as a cluster of leaves containing too much water to hold dumped its contents on his head. The water went dripping down his helmet and left droplets on his t-slit. He shook his head impatiently to be rid of them. 

If he'd have been desperate he would have grabbed a tent from the equipment field that they were allowed to take items from. Except large-scale covert sabotage had been going on since the start of the solo round, and Rex wasn't about to trust something that could be redesigned to cave in and trap him inside. The stakes were too high. He'd seen Gree tampering with the jetpacks shortly before being treed by Wolffe. 

Rex scrambled back up the tree he'd just vacated when he heard talking nearby, and was just in time to observe Herc and Bly walking underneath his branch. They'd both been disqualified early in the round for throwing Bacara out a third story window. Personally he thought the chakaar deserved it, but there had to be some sort of decorum. They were officers, after all.

"-My credits are on Neyo," Bly was saying. "He's determined and ruthless." 

"Mine are on Rex," Herc said. Rex cocked his head slightly, intrigued. It was always nice to have a fan. 

"Really? Why's that?"

"He's just... he's got shereshoy, y'know? And completely unrelated but relevant, if you bother looking his name up in almost any language it means 'king' so... not saying that has any significance or anything but it totally does." 

" ...And you get the time to bother to find this stuff out when?" 

"Got a guy in my unit who loves learning new tongues. I swear he knows more than the pocket translator does."

"Hmm. Well, I'd rather Rex win than Neyo so good luck to you."

"Wanna go shove _Neyo _out a window?"

"I'm considering it..." Rex watched them go and felt rather pleased with himself. He climbed down from the tree and headed toward an overhang in the rocky cliff face of a plateau that was nearby. Before he got there, however, he heard sound of the chimes going off to announce the next- and coincidentally last- checkpoint was now active. 

An icon began blinking in his HUD and he activated it to get the coordinates for the last rendezvous, then started booking it. There were only four of them left in the round. Cody and Neyo were his primary concern, but he also really hoped that Wolffe wouldn't be too upset at his escape from the tree. He was one of the few people that Rex actively tried to avoid getting on the bad side of. Now, _Cody _was someone he actively tried to _annoy_. The guy needed to loosen up a little from time to time. 

Cutting across a path and darting through some shrubs, Rex heard a "good luck" from somewhere behind and glanced back long enough to see that it was Ponds and Gree. Grey and Styles were coming up the path to meet with them at the small shed, most likely to play a game of chicken while no one was watching. It was the only game which had been banned by the GAR for excessive injury. Ponds was already balanced on Gree's shoulders and looking impatient. Rex waved and kept going. 

Out of nowhere something heavy slammed into his torso. After some confusion he realized that it was Cody. They grappled for a bit before rolling into a ditch filled with poisonous reptiles and then called a temporary truce to get clear before launching themselves at each other again. The jetpack which Cody had been wearing loosened and went tumbling into some bushes.

Cody ripped Rex's helmet off of his head and Rex retaliated by biting down on the one open part of the bodysuit not covered by plates on his arm, which happened to be just under the shoulder before the forearm plate took over. Cody yelped and kicked him in the groin. Dirt flew everywhere and got in Rex's eyes, but he hung on with all he had. Cody, apparently, was not prepared for such tenacious ferocity because he left himself open to a full body tackle and Rex took the opportunity. 

He slung his arm around Cody's neck, pressing in until he heard the Commander's breathing get shallow. He let go, Cody started gasping in lungfuls of fresh air, and Rex started running after grabbing up his helmet and slapping it back on his head. The checkpoint wasn't far, and if he- 

Rex skidded to a halt, barely stopping in time as his toes curved at the edge of a swiftly rushing and swollen river directly in his path. There was an elevated walkway on the other side that jutted out over the water a few inches, and happened to be where he needed to be. He heard crashing in the underbrush and hesitated only a split second before jumping in, gasping at the cold which seeped in between his bodysuit and plates and stayed there. His armor dragged him down, and he had to remind himself that he couldn't drown because his helmet recirculated the oxygen and the set was safe for the vacuum of space if properly sealed. It didn't help much when his head went under. 

After what felt like ages he surfaced, hand grasping wildly for the edge of the platform on the other side. He found it and hung on for dear life, then- panting- pulled himself out of the rapids. Stumbling to his feet and feeling the water dripping off of his armor, he looked up to see Cody on the other bank. The Commander had paced along the edge to the point where the current had carried Rex downstream.

"It's over Cody!" Rex shouted, pacing the far platform. "I have the high ground!" 

"You underestimate my power reserve," Cody retorted warningly. Rex shook his head, willing him to submit.

"Don't try it." Cody ignored him, backing up to the edge of the drifting platform and preparing to jump. The rushing river was flecked with foamy caps on the head of each cresting wave, warning him not to come near. He fired up the jet boosters and rocketed over the churning waters. 

Even through the driving rain, Rex could see that the faulty energy packs which Gree had installed had done their job. The jet pack sputtered out. Cody was propelled forward just enough by the residual force that he managed to grasp onto the very edge of the platform. 

"Brother, help me," he begged. Rex bent down and gently pried Cody's fingers off of the lip.

"Long live the king," he said smugly before letting go. Cody dropped with a yelp into the chilly water a few meters below and started thrashing his way to shore, cursing the entire time. Rex took off for the checkpoint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Translation:
> 
> Chakaar - lit. Graverobber; generally scumbag and term of abuse.
> 
> Shereshoy - Lust for life.


	37. War Games V

"Remind me again why you didn't get first place?" Brye asked subduedly as Rex argued with his sleeping pack. The Captain gave him a long, exasperated look through narrowed eyes. "Just asking." 

"Because Neyo played dirty, that's why," Jesse growled crossly as he threw a pebble at a wall. 

"The dirty cheat," Fives groaned. "If he wasn't an officer I'd kick his sociopathic-"

"I think the point you're all missing is that I still got second place playing fair and square," Rex pointed out. He was more amused than angry. Yeah, Neyo had bent the rules and gotten ahead as a result. So what? As far as everyone else was concerned he'd shown he was best. First place was a title that didn't mean a much as second if you hadn't earned it. There hadn't been a single clause in the rules that said you couldn't have another officer detain your opponents... though in a perfect world of honorable gentlemen such a rule would not needed have existed...

"How are you okay with allowing the hut'uun to get away with this!?" Ailen exclaimed. 

"Must be my sense of personal pride." 

Cody went walking past, and as he did so he sneezed rather loudly. Kix leaned back with a smirk.

"Aw, has Al'verde got the sniffoos?" He asked sarcastically.

"I'm not speaking with any of you right now."

"Datihaye be ni," Rex said unconcernedly, knowing full well Cody didn't understand the language. In response, Cody glared at him, pointedly adjusting the bacta bandage he was sporting before walking on in a dignified manner. The moment ended when he sneezed again.

"How'd he get that injury on his forearm?" Kix asked, intrigued. Rex shrugged.

"He pulled my helmet off so I bit him." Brye started laughing, and Tup looked shocked. Jesse seemed impressed.

"Really? I mean, I know you have a tendency to bare your teeth at the enemy during a fight, but I never thought your go-to reaction would be to actually _bite _your attacker," he said. Brye pulled off a boot and peeled the bodysuit up as far as it would go to show a small grouping of dotted scar tissue slightly lighter than the rest of his skin and arranged to form an oval. 

"We were two," he explained, still chuckling. "Got into a fight, I punched him in the stomach, he got my ankle. Had a bacta pad on it for five days before it healed enough to avoid infection. Take a guess at who had the last laugh."

"That looks nasty," Ahsoka remarked as she cruised to a halt in their midst. She caught Rex's eye and purposefully smiled in such a way that her incredibly sharp predator's teeth in the back of her mouth were visible. He laughed. 

"So what's the word, 'Soka?" Ailen asked from a supply crate, leaning over to perch his arms on Denal's head. The trooper looked at him through lidded eyes from where he was sitting on the ground and said nothing. Ahsoka seemed immensely pleased with herself. 

"The next part of the war Games are commencing in one hour," she said happily, flouncing over to where Tup was trying to get his long hair in a ponytail and taking the opportunity to tie it in a high bun. It was surprisingly expert-looking despite the fact that it had been done by an individual who came from a species lacking hair. Rex supposed she'd had friends at the Jedi Temple. "We have a task to complete, and I get to plan how to accomplish it. Going up against Barriss and Caleb on this one, and since there's a limited supply of Padawans we get select groups of ten from four different battalions so everyone gets an equal shot at participating."

"Sounds like a good time," Echo commented. He smacked Fives on the back of the head as his elder Squad brother tried to trip him up. "Who're you taking?" Ahsoka cocked an eyebrow that suggested he was an idiot. "Old Guard. Got it. Who're the other battalions?" 

"212th, 18th, and 327th."

"Cody, Wolffe, and Bly," Rex echoed the Commanders of each and gave a satisfied nod. "I can live with that."

"And what teams are we going up against then?" Hardcase asked excitedly. 

"Caleb has Grey and Styles, his usual outfit, along with Jet, Herc, and Bacara. That leaves Barriss with Gree- her usual- and Ponds, Neyo, and Fox." Ahsoka mentally tallied them up with visual aid on her fingers. 

"So a good turnout then," Jesse summarized. "It'll help that Neyo and Bacara are at odds. They may be sociopaths, but they're an unstoppable force when they work together."

"Yeah, if Bacara hadn't broken the rules of the games by tackling Rex on Neyo's behalf Alor'ad would be sitting in first place," Denal broke in sourly. He nudged Ailen's arms off of his head, annoyed. "Cut it out." 

"Sure Cody'll want to play nice?" Brye joked, cocking his head in Rex's direction. "He might be bitter about you biting him and then shoving him in the river." 

"He's a professional," Tup countered. Kix stretched out on the ground on his stomach to take a nap.

"Professionals have their petty moments all the same," the medic murmured sleepily. He'd found a sunny spot and had no intention of moving. 

"I'll manage somehow to get you guys to cooperate," Ahsoka replied, amused. "Mind if I join you?" Someone threw her a sleeping bag and she zipped herself up. The races began. Rex got tangled in a tent cord and ended up flat on his face. Hardcase, ever determined, crawled over him to victory. Cody walked up with his chosen nine and slapped his forehead. Several boys in 212th paint joined in. Bly was aggressively competing for second with Waxer when the Wolfpack showed up, literal howling started in earnest, and Everyone found out how Boost had gotten his nickname. The man was like chain-lightning in a sleeping bag race.

Amid the chaos Obi-wan, Plo, Aayla, and Anakin showed up. None of them knew exactly what it was they needed to say to bring order. Plo called for quiet long enough to ask if they had extras. Oddly, Anakin was the one who looked horrified. Obi-wan was surprisingly enthusiastic. He launched himself on top of Cody and the rest of the 212th in a screaming knot of sleeping bags with a Neanderthalic bellow and Cody let out the most girlish scream they had ever heard. Rex hadn't even known their vocal cords were capable of producing such a banshee cry and he vowed never to let the Commander live it down. Anakin refused to participate, most likely because the last time he had he'd nearly been trampled to death by literal 10 year old armored children. All pretenses of acting mature evaporated when the camping supplies were brought out. 

Plo waded through the nonsense and grabbed Wolffe under the ribs, hauling him out of the confusion and ruffling his hair. The Commander protested vehemently.

"Buir!" Rex thought the nickname was adorably pure for such a rough-around-the-edges unit. He found that he was pinned underneath Ahsoka and Ailen, and when Rex asked if he could escape to get more oxygen into his body Ahsoka, being the small child that she was and the sleeping bags being loose-formed, shot into his bag to tickle him before moving on to tackle Anakin about the waist and forcibly drag him into the fray. 

The ruckus summoned the entire contingency of clones and officers alike. Everyone except for two Jedi and The Bacara/Neyo cloud of doom duo joined in. Order was forgotten. It was the end of civilization as they knew it. 

In the end the champion was Bail Organa, distinguished senator of a noble house and coincidentally married to the ruling monarch of the planet, with a pillowcase tied about his head in a bandana wearing silk pajamas and fluffy slippers, having appropriated his wife's makeup for impromptu war paint, who somehow managed to daisy-chain together several rolls of toilet paper and pin Obi-wan to a tree with it. He was hereafter known among the troops as Ori'ramikad Organa.

An hour later they were prepping for the last two rounds of the War Games, professional as ever and as if the Alderaan Incident as it was colloquially known thenceforth had never taken place. There were several black eyes and bruised ribs. Enemies had been made and alliances forged. There was no going back. Until eternity should end The Alderaan Incident would be told as fabled legend among the cadets on Kamino as the most epic sleeping bag massacre of all time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Translation:
> 
> -Hut'uun - Coward (worst possible insult).  
-Al'verde - Commander (most used variation).  
-Datihaye de ni - Fine by me.  
-Buir - Dad.  
-Ori'ramikad - Supercommando (elite special forces).


	38. War Games VI

Cody still wasn't on speaking terms with him as they worked over attack strategies with Ahsoka. Wolffe had told him to let it go, but Cody was stubborn. Bly just seemed entertained by the petty squabble, though Rex was willing to let bygones be bygones and refused to rise to the bait he was being given. It became increasingly more difficult to do so as the session dragged on, but he had the satisfaction of Cody sneezing at _least _once every five minutes as compensation for his good manners. Ironically, though Rex had been the one to bite the plasma round and just swim across the river, Cody had been the one to catch a cold even though he'd spent far less time in it in the long run. 

"-So do you have any idea what Barriss will be doing?" Bly asked, turning to Ahsoka. She shrugged. 

"I get the feeling Barriss will want to be meticulous, but I also get the feeling that she knows we expect that."

"In other words, no," Rex summed up brightly. He got cuffed lightly across the ear by Wolffe and shook his head slightly. 

"Check to make sure you're getting all your fingers back," Cody advised sourly, pawing at his bandaged arm. It was probably bothering him. 

"Oh, a biter huh?" Wolffe questioned with a raised eyebrow. Rex smirked. Wolffe responded by baring his teeth briefly in a rare bout of exceptionally good humor before turning back to the hologram. Bly nudged Cody in the shoulder. 

"Loosen up. I would've done the exact same thing if I were in his place." 

"Yeah, but he _enjoyed _it," Cody pouted.

"I did not," Rex shot back defensively. 

"You said 'long live the king' and dropped me into the river!" 

"Boys..." Ahsoka muttered tiredly. Cody's face went red. 

"Sorry, Commander." She looked pointedly at Rex. 

"Com, I can't apologize for something I didn't start," he explained innocently. Ahsoka just shook her head and continued arguing with the datapad she'd brought out. It didn't want to sync with the holo.

"May I?" Bly asked politely. She tossed it to him and slumped on the edge of the table.

"Knock yourself out." Bly fiddled for a few moments and then smiled triumphantly when he got the technology to work. They got down to business properly after that, and the contest was in full swing. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"I don't like this," Wolffe sighed. Rex straighened from where he had been crouching on a thin jut of rock, wincing with a groan as his stiffened muscles protested. 

"Believe it or not this isn't the craziest thing she's ever had us do," he replied with a small smile. 

"Hah." Cody laughed half sarcastically, half self-pityingly. He had, after all, been on a number of the Skywalker/Ahsoka missions himself and happened to be Kenobi's Commander, a man who just did the crazy with a little more sauveness than his two protégés. 

"Ahsoka can be a bit... eccentric at times," Bly added from where he was sitting in the crook of a tree branch, glancing down at them below. 

"I come by it honest," Ahsoka said with a shrug of her scrawny orange shoulders, dropping down from a higher branch onto the ground. Bly leapt out of his skin, fell from his perch, and landed on his face. He stumbled to his feet, ears and cheeks burning red with embarrassment. 

"Humiliation suites you," Cody laughed. 

"Shut up." 

"Make me." 

"Play nice kids," Wolffe chastised. Ahsoka ignored them and went to look over a particularly tall stretch of rock face; it was much too high for her to see over and so she looked pitifully at Rex. He sighed.

"Yeah, go ahead." Ahsoka brightened and climbed up his back until she was sitting on his shoulders with a pair of macrobinoculars. 

"Much better. Thank you!"

"Don't mention it. ..Ever." 

"Deal." 

"So what can you see from your great height?" Bly asked, managing to regain his composure. 

"Hmm... Nothing ye- wait a minute... Caleb's on the move." 

"Which direction?" Wolffe questioned, taking out a portable holomap. 

"West. By Southwest."

"West... by Southwest... Marked." 

"That's our cue to move out then. I'll get the men ready." Cody took off sprinting down the steep incline, somehow managed to keep his balance all the way to the bottom, and disappeared from view. Ahsoka was still perched on Rex's shoulders. 

"Barriss seems to be sitting in place for now." 

"We should move to intercept Commander Dume's forces before we end up with a three-way confrontation," Rex suggested. 

"Sound strategy. I can get behind that." 

"We're moving out," Bly said; he'd climbed back into the tree to be able to see into the valley below them. 

"Great." Ahsoka leapt from his shoulders and they all sprinted to the troops. Cody was at the front of the procession, and he stepped back accordingly as the Padawan Commander pranced to her spot. Rex fell back a bit among the men, on the right flank. He noted that Wolffe was doing the same on the left without really paying attention until he saw Brye purposefully trip him up, at which point he waded through the men and grabbed him by the edge of his back armor plate to drag him back over to the rest of the Torrent Company guys. 

"For once in your life can you at least _feign _maturity?" Rex muttered crossly. 

"I've never pretended to be something I'm not and don't intend to start now," Brye replied with a shrug. 

"Uh huh." The sentence, while meant to be sarcastic, struck an odd chord of reflectiveness in Rex and he knew it would keep him up at night for the next foreseeable week.

Precisely according to plan- a rare occurrence that usually could be attributed to Wolffe or Cody's presence alone- their forces met up with Caleb Dume's. As scheduled, a fight broke out with a special type of ammunition that simulated the pain of being shot to a far lesser degree and the chaos was in full swing. Rex, in his element, happened to glance away from what he was currently doing just long enough to watch Ahsoka and Caleb engage in swordplay before returning to the task at hand.


	39. War Games VII

" ...And precisely how many times did he fall out of the window?" General Mundi asked. Rex shrugged, wincing at the pull it made on his torn shoulder muscles and the way it put stress on his bruised ribcage.

"Not really certain, sir. The perpetrators appear to have lost count, you see." Neyo glared at them from where he was being looked over by one of his Battalion's medics, but no one seemed to care how he was feeling except for an impassive Bacara. The Jedi were skeptical. 

"Uh huh." Kenobi turned to look meaningfully at Cody, who was nursing a black eye and broken nose. "Commander, what were the circumstances which led to Commander Neyo's being thrown out the window?" 

"Disorderly conduct unbefitting an officer and overall attitude akin to a bad-tempered Rill, sir." Cody's face was deadpan. Obi-wan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"And when did this happen?" Unduli inquired softly. 

"Sometime last night, I assume," Gree answered.

"No definite time frame?" 

"Not in the slightest sir," Bly affirmed. 

"And as Commander Neyo has already stated, his attackers were disguised in unmarked dark plating and refrained from speaking the entire time," Styles added unhelpfully. 

"Well then that will be all, unless anyone else has something productive to include?" Plo Koon said with a meaningful glance at Wolffe. The Commander was busy filing his nails and didn't reply. 

"Dismissed," Skywalker ordered. Rex was certain that he knew exactly who had done it and why, but if there was one thing Anakin Skywalker approved of it was jerks getting their just rewards. 

The Commanding officers dispersed to direct their units toward getting off-planet; their respective cruiser overhauls and supply refreshments had been completed earlier that day. When Rex finished with that he high-tailed it to the small shed where some of them had played chicken earlier in the games. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone else aside from Neyo and Bacara were present. Fox, the last to the party, caught up with the Captain as they ducked inside. 

The space was cramped with all of them in there, but it was better than nothing. 

"That was a close one," Grey said good-naturedly after a few seconds of silence. 

"You think?" Ponds retorted drily, crossing his arms. "If they ever _do _catch who did it all of us are complicit in with-holding critical knowledge of the details."

"So?" Wolffe countered. "It was worth it, all things considered." 

"I still can't believe Neyo came after you with a vibroblade and threatened to slit your throat," Styles said sympathetically to Herc. Herc rubbed his neck nervously; there was still a somewhat deep gash right where his carotid artery was. 

"I can." 

"Not that committing multiple felonies hasn't been a bonding experience," Cody said, "but I'll be much more at ease once we go our separate ways." 

"I second that," Bly agreed. "We're much too..." he paused, searching for the right word. 

"Susceptible?" Rex offered. 

"Yeah. Much too susceptible to getting into trouble when we're all together." 

"I can't argue with that," Gree sighed. There was a long period of uncomfortable silence. 

"So..." Jet said after a while. "Who exactly out of the little group of assassins was the one to give Neyo the 'Big Push' out the window?" 

No one said a word. It would be a secret that they would take to their graves. 


	40. Brothers, All II

_Reliant _was a flurry of activity as Rex weaved and dodged through the bustle; it was always busy when cadets came to tour. They got a lot of those, because one: Anakin Skywalker was always receptive to the attention and two: Torrent Company was one of the best models for how the infantry was run. Third: it was also a good example for how things were _never _done exactly according to plan. 

At the moment they were drifting in deep space working on repairs. The moment was ripe for touring, as they were the closest to Kamino outside of the blockade guarding it. 

"I heard they're pilots this time around," Brye said casually as he fell into step next to his Captain. Rex smiled at him gratefully; as commanding officer his duties sometimes kept him out of the loop of barracks chatter, but Brye always managed to find him and fill him in. 

"So what's the damage this time?" Rex asked. The Sergeant shrugged. 

"Five illegal transactions involving flare casing and two smugglers are in the med hangar dishing out gaja fruit. Want one?"

"Are the flare casings paying for the fruit?"

"No. They were for the fresh Roba sausage." 

"Ah. So what's paying for the fruit?" 

"Generous donation on behalf of a rural government. Backwater planet we liberated about a week ago. Don't have contracted pilots so they asked the smugglers." 

"Mm. Seen the cadets yet?"

"Heard Shadow Squadron was gonna take 'em for a flight before the tour started up." 

"They'll enjoy that."

"The cadets or Shadow Squadron?"

"Yes." Brye chuckled at the response, and Rex smiled. They kicked a loose piece of durasteel rubble between them as they walked down the corridor and Jesse ambled by in the opposite direction with a few shinies. The Sergeant stole it and got chased down the hall for a few meters by Brye, who stole it back and nudged it with the toe of his boot for Rex to receive it. They continued walking.

"Any specific instructions on how you want this one run?" Brye asked. 

"Nah. Just keep them away from the hazardous materials on deck seven and be sure to explain that the ship doesn't normally look like this is about it," Rex replied promptly. Brye arched a bleach-striped black eyebrow. 

"So the usual then. Will do. Oh, and General Skywalker wanted to have a word with you on the Bridge when you found the time with everything going on."

"Thanks, Sergeant."

"No problem, Alor'ad." Brye touched two fingers to his brow and peeled off down a side corridor to get on with whatever it was he was supposed to do for the day, and Rex headed for the Bridge. Skywalker most likely just wanted a general plan of attack for how to run through the tour. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"Well, everything _was _going according to plan... a little _too _well, apparently." Hardcase received a pointed glare from Jesse, and the rookie lowered his gaze, which was a rare show of respectful submission to dominance that took Rex by surprise until he noticed that the Sergeant's eyebrows were a bright green and that Hardcase had a nasty cut just above his left eye. 

Rex sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose; they both turned to stare at him expectantly. 

"Whatever's going on between the two of you right now, shove it. We have bigger problems to worry about right now."

"I'll say," Five grunted as he slid down the ladder from the upper deck and landed heavily on the floor. "We've got two more Sep frigates that just dropped out of hyperspace." 

"Ambush," at least thirty voices in the nearby vicinity said collectively at once. Rex took off jogging down the hall with his boys on his heels. 

"I want gunner crews in post five minutes ago," he snapped. "Repair crews out there yet?"

"Not yet," Echo said, consulting his datapad. 

"Well, then them too. Where are the fighters?" 

"Outbound already. General Skywalker and Commander Tano are leading. Admiral Yularen requested your presence on the Bridge sir," Jesse said, panting slightly. Rex nodded, and they rounded a corner that happened to have a wide bank of windows in it. They slowed just enough to get a good look at the full-scale confrontation just beyond the pressurized transparent material. 

"Well..." Hardcase started, then stopped. Words failed him. Fives eloquently found them for him by swearing loudly. 

"Make yourselves useful," Rex admonished quietly as he ran for the Bridge. They scattered to help out the ship's crew. 

_Reliant _took a direct hit that made the entire craft rock sideways, throwing Rex off balance. He stumbled into a frazzled-looking Brye and growled in annoyance. 

"Brye, shift it. We're vastly outnumbered he-" he never finished his sentence, because he'd never seen his squad brother look so horrified before. "What is it?"

"The cadets," Brye answered breathlessly. "They were out there when we were attacked." 

"With me." 

They were running as if their feet had wings.

Yularen was, as ever, the cool and calculated voice of reason in catastrophe. He was in his element and would have been lying if he'd ever denied not getting a thrill out of a good old-fashioned space confrontation, but even his calm exterior was somewhat ruffled by the days' events. 

"Well get them back here then," he snapped at an unfortunate ops officer who happened to be the one relaying the bad news at the moment. He softened his next words to cushion the abrasiveness, recognizing that it was uncalled-for. "Who can we redirect?" 

"Skywalker's already en route to intercept," the officer replied. He wasn't irritated by the snap in the slightest. 

"Sitrep," Rex barked, striding down the aisle toward the windows with Brye on his heels. "Somebody talk to me." 

"Not much to explain that hasn't already been determined I'm afraid," Yularen replied tersely. 

"And the cadets?" The Admiral glanced at the officer, who shook his head. 

"Still no word. Last we knew Shadow Squadron was engaging the preliminary fighters while they headed back to _Reliant_, but since the Shadow has lost all communication with them." 

_"Re-established contact,"_ Skywalker said over the comm, voice full of static and the exterior sound of battle directly outside his fighter. _"One left. Not in good shape. Looks like the cockpit caught fire." _

"Only one?" Brye exclaimed, shocked. He wasn't the only one; there was a brief lull of stunned silence on the Bridge before activity picked up again. Rex felt his stomach drop into his toes and his heart leap into his throat. He swallowed somewhat audibly and made a conscious effort to compose his features carefully. Brye wouldn't be fooled but it would work with most everyone else. 

"Admiral, what do you recommend?" He asked quietly. 

"A full-scale retreat to more fortified territory," Yularen sighed. He gave the signal to sound it and leaned toward the comm. "General, Commander, all squadrons, please return immediately to your hangars. We're leaving in a hurry." 

_"Just a minute, and then I'll be right with you," _Anakin responded. Everyone else was headed right back. _"You got that tow cable, R2? Good. Attach it. Let's get outta here." _

Rex was running to the hangar. At some point he felt the ship shudder as they fled to hyperspace and secured space. When he got there he could see the damaged fighter clearly. Kix was scurrying impatiently from one side of it to the other while they waited for a cutting crew to arrive; the cockpit hood was fused to the ship chassis. There was a medical team also standing by. 

Anakin raced over after leaping out of his own fighter and ripped the hood clear off the fighter with a good Force-pull. Kix sprang onto the wing and pulled the cadet out. There was a collective sigh from the onlookers. He wa pretty badly burned on his chest, back, and upper legs. Lower arms and hands had got some good damage too. Numerous shallow cuts were lacing his young face. 

"Still breathing! Not too badly injured, just severe sections but nothing appears internal," Kix reported as he carefully lowered the cadet into the waiting arms of the medics. He jumped down and followed the gurney out of the hangar, and Rex was wishing he could do something aside from aside crews to fix the damage to the ship. It just wasn't fair sometimes, war. Seeing the kid being carried out only affirmed that. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

_Remembrance _was perfectly capable of handling herself without any help from the six or seven other ships in the fleet, but Obi-wan had insisted that they bring them for support of the ground troops on their latest joint mission. It had been a good seven weeks since the incident aboard the _Reliant, _and the last thing Rex had ever expected to see was Shadow Squadron's outlier pilot come storming onto the Bridge without permission to interrupt a briefing by Cody with an angry Cadet supervisor in tow and a scared-looking cadet besides. 

Rex didn't need photographic memory to recognize the kid; the fading cuts on his face and visible burns on his hands and neck were more than enough. He felt his left hand clench and unclench next to his blaster and rested his right fingers loosely on the grip of the other as the situation was explained. 

The cadet, Kiss, had been assigned to a new training squadron which was currently taking its tour of their ship. Apparently he'd failed a very important test by a Kaminoan training supervisor named Yaun Sal. They called him up on the holo to have a little chat, and things were only getting worse and worse. 

_"-Reprogramming is the only option,"_ Yaun Sal was saying. Everyone on the bridge paused in what they were doing for a brief moment before resuming their work. _"That's final."_

"What's 'reprogramming'?" Skywalker asked. Rex leaned in and whispered an explanation in his ear. He suddenly looked outraged. "You're talking about _brain wiping _a kid!?"

_"Your description is crude, but accurate,"_ the Kaminoan conceded. 

"And we're actually _discussing _this!?" Yaun Sal blinked.

_"There is no discussion."_ Rex really hated Kaminoans. But it wasn't until that moment that he knew how much. 

"Well I don't-"

"Sir." The Captain had stepped in again, tactfully interrupting.

"What, Rex?" The Jedi asked, annoyed. Rex nodded to Kiss. The cadet was staring wide-eyes at them, chest heaving as he fought to control his terrified breathing. He suddenly turned on his heel and fled; everyone watched him go, including both Yaun Sal and General Shaak Ti via the holo. 

General Kenobi turned back to the holo with as angry an expression on his face as Rex had ever seen. 

"Well I hope you're quite satisfied," he spat sarcastically, crossing his arms. Yaun Sal blinked again. 

_"I do not understand this regard you hold for the lives of clones. In my culture, if you ask for an expendable workforce it is unwise to become attached to it." _

"Listen, you little-" Anakin began, but Rex planted a very strong grip on his shoulder. 

"Not worth it sir," he murmured quietly. "Losing battle trying to find their moral center. Pretty sure they cut it out centuries ago." 

_"The insult has been noted,"_ the Kaminoan responded gruffly. _"Back to the subject at hand. CT-8694 dash 27 is designated a pilot. If he cannot perform reprogramming is the only option of recourse." _

_"There is an alternative,"_ Shaak Ti said softly. She cast a knowing eye at Rex and Cody. _"We could assign him to an infantry squad instead. The transition would be difficult, but not impossible."_

"It's certainly worth trying before reprogramming," Kenobi conceded. Rex winced; the way he had said 'reprogramming' made it sound like he was spitting out poison. Yaun Sal would take some convincing.

_"Well I don't-"_

_"It is decided then," _Ti interrupted with a pointedly chilly stare. The Kaminoan was instantly silenced._ "Kiss is to be assigned to a new sector of study upon returning to Kamino." _

"Thanks awfully General," Cody said with a short respectful bow that looked oddly out of place for someone in uniform and not Jedi robes to perform. Despite this, Rex found himself mirroring it. He felt slightly numb with relief. The kid had already been through so much. 

"Who's going to break the good news?" Tepyd, the pilot, asked. 

"I will," Rex decided without really understanding why he wanted to. He just knew he needed to. He took his leave of the Jedi and went searching for Kiss. 

He found him in the rafters above the fighters in one of the larger hangars, sighed at having to negotiate the skinny beams at such a great height, and climbed up. Kiss barely responded.

"You're gonna be all right Kiss," Rex murmured. "They're transferring you to infantry. You'll never have to get in a cockpit again, and you can forget about reconditioning. Shaak Ti put her foot down." Kiss leaned into his side and Rex simply froze, unsure what it was he was supposed to do. Then he registered the tear streaks wetly on the cadet's cheeks and was instantly angry and protective. He brought his hand up to stroke the mane of messy black hair and Kiss shuddered. 

"Easy Mi'ika," he whispered soothingly. "You'll be okay." Kiss looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What did you call me?" He asked quietly, hoarsely. Rex blinked. He'd been told that Kiss wasn't speaking to anyone and hadn't been since the accident. 

"'Mi'ika,'" he repeated. "It's uh... it's a pet form on the word 'Mirshko.'" 

"Which is?" 

"Mandalorian for 'courage.' Well, one of them, anyway." The Captain glanced uneasy at the hangar deck a long way below. "So are you gonna come down willingly or am I going to have to help you down with prejudice?"

"Mirshko." Kiss drew it out, long and sweet, closing his eyes briefly. "I like that." He opened them again, still giving Rex that intent and scared stare. "But you're sure that I'll be okay when I get back to Kamino? They're really not going to recondition me?"

"Never." 

"Then okay. I'll come with you." He wrapped his arms around Rex's neck and upper torso while the Captain held him securely with one arm, and Rex used his rappel line to descend from the ceiling. He ended up carrying Mirshko back to the Bridge to hand him over to his supervisor, whereon he discovered that the young cadet had fallen asleep curled against his chest. 

He refused to hand Kiss over for the entirely of the night until he woke up and was able to walk with the rest of the cadets on his own, and remained patrolling the Bridge with him curled snugly against his chest.


	41. Den Brother

Kiss had been glued to Rex's side ever since he'd been rescued from reconditioning the day prior. For his part, the Captain allowed it. Cody seemed to think it was amusing, but when he'd noticed that the other cadets were making jibes at Kiss he had shut it down hard. The Jedi let them deal with the situation in their own way without interfering partly because they knew that they didn't have a good grasp of the situation but mostly for the reason that they seemed wary of getting on their Clone officers' bad sides at the moment.

For some inexplicable reason that Rex didn't quite understand beyond the recognition that it was instinctually ingrained somewhere deep inside him, he was willing to do anything necessary to keep that kid safe. After being introduced to some of the other members of the 212th and 501st, Kiss had a small army of devoted bodyguards ready to deal prejudicely with anyone who gave him a hard time. 

At the moment the cadet was curled in a tight ball next to him with his head resting on a rolled up piece of Rex's Kama, breathing lightly. The other nine cadets were all crumpled together on another seating bank in the transport headed for Kamino; Rex didn't know how, but he had accidentally accepted a request to give a lesson to cadets. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it. 

The cadets' supervisor- his name was Tanner- leaned over and whispered to him. 

"I'm with the kid two weeks and I can't get him to so much as blink at me," he murmured. "You spend five minutes and he's cuddled up and looking at you like you're his entire universe or something. What gives?"

"Dunno." Rex shrugged, careful not to disturb Kiss in doing so. "I'm as much in the dark as you." Tanner sighed; it sounded in exasperation but Rex didn't know him well enough to be sure. Now, Fives and Echo were a different matter. They were sitting farther along on his bench chatting loosely with each other as if they didn't have a care in the world, but Rex could tell by their lack of eye contact and tensed shoulders that they were apprehensive. 

"Ready for ARC training?" He asked quietly. Fives shot him a reassuring smile and Echo nodded enthusiastically. Rex raised an eyebrow at them knowingly and they dropped their carefree veneer. 

"Not really," Echo admitted. "In all honesty that was Hevy's dream, not mine." 

"I sort of like the idea but-" Fives paused, embarrassed. Tanner made a point of going into the cockpit to leave them without an audience aside from the slumbering cadets. 

" ...But you're a bit shy of something so different from what you're used to," Rex offered. 

" ...Yeah." Fives did that thing of his where he ran his fingers through his slightly spiky black hair and avoided eye contact with even the ceiling. 

"Nothing to be worried about." Rex nudged his shoulder playfully and then laid his hand on Echo's chest plate to encourage him to stop tapping the floor with his foot; the trooper smiled when Rex's fingers slid precisely over his eel blood handprint and lingered for a few moments. 

"Feels like a lot to worry about," Echo sighed. 

"Well, when you get back just ask Brye how I reacted to being selected for command training. I was a wreck." The two brothers regarded each other for a few moments before looking back at him.

"Is that true or just something to make us feel better, sir?" Fives asked. Rex shrugged. 

"Can't it be both?" They still looked skeptical. "Look, believe it or not I never wanted a command position. The higher-ups decided I would serve best in one. So here I am, and here you are. You'll be fine." 

"But-" the shuttle hit some turbulence entering Kamino's atmosphere and Kiss sat up with a small squeak of terror, startled. He was shivering. Sighing slightly, Rex gently scooped him up and deposited him in his lap whilst humming a random tune quietly under his breath. Kiss pressed his face into Rex's neck and took deep breaths to calm himself. Echo and Fives watched without comment, though the looks on their faces suggested that they were surprised at seeing him so unguarded. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

When the shuttle touched down they had a small welcoming party. The cadets spilled out, almost tripping over themselves to escape back into familiar territory. That, and there was a swarm of eager fifth years waiting to be told the entire story. Their supervisor, Tanner, sighed heavily and followed after. Kiss scampered out of the shuttle and froze when the other cadets turned to stare at him, then bolted. 

Rex grunted as seventy-five pounds of cadet slammed into the back of his legs and wrapped its arms about his waist. He glanced down to see Kiss peering out from behind him with wide eyes- which, Rex noticed, had blue and green flecks in them and a scattering of freckles dusting his nose and underneath his eyes almost as if some of the brown had flaked from his irises. He was slightly annoyed when Echo and Fives disembarked after and were practically tripping on his heels they were standing so close. 

"I'm not a meat shield," he snapped irritably. "Personal space, yeah?" They moved a few centimeters away and Rex sighed in defeat. He noticed Shaak Ti standing with four cadets and a supervisor a little ways away from the crowd and almost immediately recognized that they were a fractured unit; they stood a bit apart from each other and were more subdued than the others. Since Kiss was still clinging to his legs he shuffled over rather than walked. 

"Hello, General." Ti nodded amiably, smiling as she found Kiss hiding behind him. 

"Captain. This is Kiss then, is it?" 

"Ma'am." Rex glanced back down at Kiss and began to gently pry him off of his legs. "C'mon, vod'ika. They won't hurt you." Kiss reluctantly let go, padding cautiously over to the other four cadets and their supervisor. Rex stopped paying attention for a little bit while Shaak Ti spoke with him. 

"He'll be in good hands, and the others know exactly what he's going through to some degree. Things will get better."

"As long as I have a guarantee that Yaun Sal won't be allowed anywhere near him that's enough for me."

"You have my word."

"Thank you." The Captain glanced back and smiled; the cadets were already chatting somewhat guardedly with each other but were making sure that Kiss got included. He also noted that their supervisor- a veteran by his cybernetic left arm and numerous clawmark scars on the left side of his head- was watching them attentively with a fond eye. That was good. 

"Hey, Kiss?" Rex said quietly. They stopped talking to turn and look at him. The other four suddenly seemed to fixate on something and their eyes went wide; they stood there gaping up at him in surprise. This was confusing, but Kiss didn't seem to notice what they did.

"Sir?" He replied softly. Rex gave him a salute. 

"Good luck. Have any problems don't forget to write." He actually managed to get a small if broken small out of the kid and it felt like he was staring into the sun. 

"Right then," Rex muttered as they walked away from the cadets toward the halls. "Time to get rid of you two now..." Fives huffed at being referred to as something akin to baggage, and Echo snickered. At any rate, they were still stepping on his calves as he made his way toward one of the training blocks. Upon entering it there was brief silence in the room, and people were staring. He didn't get it. 

The man in charge turned to see what the fuss was about and smiled; they'd been in command training together.

"'Ey Rex. Brought me some new recruits, eh?" 

"Hey Hype. Yeah," Rex replied breezily. "Just dropping 'em off at school like any responsible parent should. How's things?" 

"Pretty good. ARC selection isn't a common thing, you know. I have a small group." Hype gestured vaguely at their audience. "Well I'll get them settled in and have 'em back to ya in a month or two."

"Sounds good." 

"By the way, I heard you turned down another recommendation for a Field Marshal position?" Echo and Fives started at this; it was news. Rex winced. "What does this make it? Five?"

"Seven," the Captain corrected. "I keep hoping they'll give up but they're determined." Hype then turned to Echo and Fives, grinning.

"Well, if you're anything remotely like your Captain here you'll go far. We'll take five for a break and get you into the lesson." He dissolved back into his students and left the three of them alone. 

"Play nice with the other kids all right?" Rex laughed. He draped an arm over Fives' shoulder and the other over Echo's for a few moments, brought them in close, and whispered, "Seriously, we're proud of you guys. You earned it." They pulled away and Rex left; the last thing he saw was Echo smacking Fives across the head for making a sarcastic remark.

Rex was halfway back to the shuttle after teaching the ten or twelve classes he'd been assigned feeling immensely drained when the sound of heavy footfalls made him pause as Kiss' new supervisor came jogging up. 

"Captain, glad I caught you. Headed back to the front lines?"

"Yes, I am..." 

"Oh. Uin, sir." 

"Rex."

"I know." There was a conspiritorial smile there. Rex arched an eyebrow, crossing his arms. 

"Now what does that mean? The whole time I've been here I've had the cadets just _staring _at me. Do I have mud on my nose or something?" Uin shook his head, amused. 

"Nah," he chuckled. "You're famous is all. Vets keep using you when referencing a model officer, actually. And let's face it, Torrent Company has some of the best stories to tell." Rex blinked.

"I'm... famous?" He repeated, unable to process the information. Uin started laughing. 

"What I said, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but- who'd want to idolize _me!? _I can't even put the right boot on the right foot half the time in the morning!" Uin continued laughing, and when Rex got in the outgoing shuttle he noticed the pilot staring and asked just how well-known he was. The pilot went red in the face, muttered something about the details of a mission that no one outside the Old Guard should have known, and braced himself for an awkwardly silent trip back to the _Remembrance _while Rex just stared dumbfoundedly out the window and wondered over and over again why anyone with half a brain would think he was a good role model for cadets. Unfathomable. Completely, utterly unfathomable. They were insane.


	42. Arc of Fire

"Y'know Captain Rex wannabes are only just pale imitations of the real thing," Jesse said deadpan, crossing his arms. Kix was laughing too hard to say anything, and Brye was mercifully face down in his pillow snoring lightly.

Echo just looked uncomfortable, but Rex could tell that Fives was seriously having to resist the urge to strut. They were still getting used to the Kama and double Pauldron that came with being an ARC Trooper, and had been greeted in the barracks by the rest of Torrent Company with great enthusiasm and ribbing by their elder brothers. They'd only been gone for six weeks, but it felt longer. They'd been seriously missed. 

"Don't take Jes too seriously," Hardcase countered. "I know _he_ doesn't." Tup, lying on his stomach on a bottom bunk whilst reading a holomag, snickered. 

"If it helps, just remember that you're still only Privates," Ailen offered. The gadget he was working on made a ticking noise and everyone began looking for cover. "Relax, vode. It's an alarm clock. I'm gonna set it under Denal's bunk and scare him." 

"You'll wake everyone else up too then," Denal protested humorlessly. The expression on his face indicated that he was tired of his brother's antics and looked forward to a long leave when he could sleep in peace. 

"Oh, you're here? I thought you were in the mess." Echo looked pleadingly at his commanding officer and Rex caved. 

"All right, enough gawking," Rex prodded. "We should focus on more important things. Like trying to figure out how to keep the 12 Lothcats we've got hidden from the Admiral." 

"I had a few thoughts on that," Denal offered.

"Lothcats?" Echo and Fives said questioningly at the exact same time. They were steamrollered into silence by many enthusiastic troopers.

"How so?" Jesse asked Denal eagerly. 

"We find an escape pod, see, and we-"

"If that sentence ends with 'pretend it's broken' I'm giving it a no," Rex interrupted. "If we have a legitimate emergency that pod'll need to be used." Denal looked sullen, but nodded in agreement.

"We might need to bring the General in on it," Brye suggested, head lifting out of the pillow in a tangled mess of platinum strands. He parted them so that they could see his eyes and then settled comfortably with his chin on his crossed arms. "Could be our last option. Com already knows, so what's the problem?" 

The room went quiet when a soft mewling cry was heard from the adjoining room that was supposed to be Rex's quarters and had been abandoned since he'd stepped foot on the ship. Some growling started up, and then a few hisses. The sound of scrambling and a full-blown fight broke out; all the while Fives and Echo were looking more and more confused. 

Ahsoka walked in right in the middle of a particularly loud caterwaul and froze, her lekku twitching slightly in irritation at the noise. 

"Not everyone happy in "Hotel de Skyguy?" She asked pointedly, crossing her arms and sitting on Rex's bunk. A few of the shinies snickered. Rex, sitting next to Jesse on _his _bunk, rolled his eyes when she put her muddy boots on his pillow. 

"You're cleaning that out."

"...Mm... Nah. Don't think so."

"'Soka..." 

"Kidding." She grabbed the pillow and cuddled it while the fighting ensued. They listened for a bit to the shrieking and then it abruptly ended. 

"So... what are we gonna do about them anyway?" Kix asked. 

"How did they even _get _here?" Fives asked. Jesse opened his mouth to reply but never got the chance because at that moment the door opened and about six or seven of the creatures escaped out. Several of the men launched themselves onto the floor trying to catch them, but it was hopeless. Five of them made it to the hall. 

There was a moment of silence as everyone listened attentively. A few minutes later there was the sound of several objects crashing and the Lothcats yowling. 

"Uh oh," Tup murmured uneasily. It was an understatement.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"I'm not mad," Anakin said quietly. He was still petting the Lothcat that was curled in his arms. "I'm just miffed that no one told me."

"But you said you were allergic to them!" Ahsoka exclaimed.

"No, that was Obi-wan," Skywalker corrected. 

"Regardless sir, the less you knew the better to continue with our... nefarious operation," Rex clarified with an awkward clearing of the throat. Anakin glanced over to see him standing stiffly at attention with the other men in the Company, hands neatly clasped behind his back and a carefully neutral expression on his face. The men became confused when Anakin smirked.

"Well, I know now. So how are we gonna keep these guys away from Yularen then?"

"You mean you'll help us?" Tup blurted out. He coughed when Hardcase elbowed him in the stomach. 

"Should've seen that one coming," Fives muttered. 

"How so?" Skywalker asked, crossing his arms pointedly. Fives went red in the face but managed to keep his composure. It was actually quite impressive. 

"Nothing, sir. Nothing."

"He means that you're known among the ranks for being directly against rules when it comes to it sir," Brye explained. He was still smartly at attention and deadpan, but his eyes were full of mischief. Anakin laughed. 

"At ease. But seriously, we need a strategy to get them onto the planet's surface or else Yularen will find them and we'll _all _be in trouble." 

"Does anyone else like alarm clocks?" Ailen asked innocently. They all turned to look at him questioningly and he smiled, rocking back and forth a bit on his heels like an excited child trying to stay still. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Kix groaned as they crawled through the ventilation ducts with their precious cargo. Denal paused for a few moments to take a few collective deep breaths and shake the dust out of his hair.

"I didn't make you come along," he pointed out. "Besides, it's only a minor explosion. Not a big one."

"Why does that not fill me with confidence?" Rex, bringing up the end of their little procession, sneezed loudly as he inhaled some dust. Being near an opening, they all froze. 

"Bless you," someone said absently on the other side of the grate. 

"Who exactly are you talking to?" Another voice asked. 

"I was- um... huh. Well that's odd." They began scooting as quickly and as silently as humanly possible to safety and didn't stop until they were an entire deck and a few corridors down.

When their part of the endeavor was completed they returned to barracks. The other teams returned as well, until they were all gathered. Ailen was looking a little too pleased with himself as he pressed the remote detonator. They covered their ears as a muffled explosion rippled through the ship and the sharp peal of the alarms went off, then sprang into action. While everyone else went off to see what the fuss was about, they crept through the corridors and used the confusion to escape with their precious cargo into the main hangar. Ahsoka, who was on the Bridge, activated the ramp and the night sky of Thaxis Prime awaited them. 

Rex set the squirming furball in his arms gently on the floor and watched, amused, as it sniffed the air cautiously for a few moments, tail lashing wildly. It then looked back up at him and meowed loudly. Rex bent onto his heels to scratch the pet between the shoulder blades and it purred, rubbing up against his legs.

"It's for the best you know," he sighed fondly, his fingers rubbing behind a large communications array dish of an ear. "You'll be more at home in these grasslands than you ever would be on the ship."

"See you later little guy," Hardcase said fondly to his own Lothcat as he placed it on the edge of the ramp. Rex gave his a gentle nudge and they all watched their pets scurry out into the tall grasses to disappear from sight. It was hard watching them go

"I had a pet once myself," Anakin sighed. "It was an armored rat, but given the choices you get on Tattoine I wasn't all that picky." 

"Whatever happened to it sir?" Tup asked sullenly. Out of all the men, he had bonded with the little guys the most. Skywalker frowned.

"My mother said he ran away, but now that I think back on it that sounds a little suspicious." 

They just stood there for a few moments, looking out over the prairie landscape. The alarm continued sounding throughout the ship.

"Hey, Ail?" Echo asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" 

"Where exactly did you set that explosive off?" 

"Oh, the mess," he replied dismissively. "It's mostly smoke bombs though and a few flares." 

"Mostly?" Rex exclaimed, interested. "What does that mean?" 

"Well..."

"Ailen..." 

Skywalker sighed heavily. 

"Ahsoka's sending a bunch of tense and exasperated feelings through the Force. I don't think Yularen is very happy with this little development."

"This is just like Sergeant Stabby all over again," Rex muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

"Who?" Fives and Echo asked simultaneously. 

"Somebody took a bunch of vibroknives and taped them the a malfunctioning astromech, then sent it careening down the halls of base," Jesse explained. "And we still have no idea who did it."

"We were only gone _six weeks,_" Echo stressed unhappily. 

"Yeah, nothing exciting happens when _Brye's _gone from-" Fives broke off his own chain of thought. "Well, that might not have been the best example..." 

"Can't explain any correlation there," Brye said innocently with a smirk. 

"Welcome home," Rex chuckled, cuffing both Echo and Fives affectionately on the ear. "However crazy it may be."


	43. Road Trip!

"If I hear one more sound from the backseat, Force help me I will turn this ship around!" Rex snapped bad-temperedly. The scrabbling behind him ended abruptly. 

"Sorry sir," Echo muttered. Ironically, Fives copied him. Neither sounded very apologetic. Rex glanced into a very shiny and reflective section of durasteel paneling and sighed in exasperation. They were a mess of tangled arms and legs, having frozen mid-brawl. Cody was in the co-pilot's seat inhaling his tongue trying not to laugh. 

"Having fun there Buir?" He cackled. He'd actually drawn his legs up closer to his chest and was rocking slowly back and forth in the chair. 

"Oh, _that _word you remember," Rex retorted sarcastically. He was white-knuckling the flight controls as their little craft bumbled through the spaceport, and it was so decrepit that it could be considered a Skywalker vessel. 

They were coming up on the customs inspector; Rex slammed his fist on the emergency brake to come to a timely stop and Echo somehow ended up in Cody's lap. Fives' foot smashed into the back of Rex's head and his leg wrapped around his neck, and when the customs officer bent down to look through the cockpit window he found a tangled mess of thrashing limbs. 

"Cody, get your shoulder out of my spine!" Rex snapped. Noticing the officer he made an effort to assume a posture of calm. Echo smacked him in the ribs whilst crawling back into the backseat and he winced. "Something I can help you with officer?" 

"Well, I-"

"Rex, Fives is flashing me with his chrono!" Echo whined. Cody leaned over in his seat to glare behind him. 

"Fives, cut it out. Echo, put that holo dow- _Fives..._"

"Don't make me come back there," Rex threatened. The customs officer was staring at them with wide eyes.

"N-no, everything's good," he stuttered. Rex flashed him a forced smile.

"Thanks." He floored it and the bulkheads shuddered, displacing several years' worth of rust. It drifted lazily through the air and made Rex sneeze. He hated that no one else seemed to have that compulsion when faced with unexpected dust particulates. 

"Should I get the tissues?" Cody asked sarcastically. 

"Who made you my mother?" There was a slight pause.

"That sentence is just so wrong on so many genetic levels," Echo muttered. 

"Shut up gramps," Fives needled. 

"Whose idea was it anyway to put the four of us on an undercover mission together?" Cody asked no one in particular. "They should have known better."

"I have a feeling Skywalker and Kenobi have a hidden camera mounted in here somewhere and they're being suitably entertained," Rex surmised as he rounded a corner and nearly collided with a lane splitter which came up out of nowhere. Their ship was tiny and didn't react well to steering. Or flying. Or generally anything that involved working properly. 

All of them were tense and on-edge. First off, the ship was way too small for four fully-grown and muscular men to be comfortable in. Second, they were in civvy clothing and all felt incredibly exposed. Third, Rex was a terrible driver in general. 

They almost rammed a column and Cody hissed the air through his teeth on his next exhale.

"That's it," he ordered. "Out of the pilot's seat. I'm driving." 

"I didn't want to drive in the first place," Rex pointed out. He put the craft in park, Fives and Echo slammed into the backs of their seats, and then he and Cody tried to switch without actually getting out of the speeder. It was easier said than done. 

"Ow!" Fives yelped; a feral elbow jab had got him in the eye. 

"Next time Kenobi can pick the transport," Rex groaned, slumping into the co-pilot's seat. Technically it was a co-pilot's seat, except that all of the controls had been ripped out for more storage space and leg room. 

"Agreed," Cody huffed after managing to get his leg over the steering. He nudged the controls but nothing happened, so Rex leaned over and thumped the dashboard. The engine responded with a raspy purr.

"It only understands violence."

"This is going _perfectly_." 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

The city they were investigating was just one of a number of supposedly neutral systems that appeared to have gone particularly Separatist as of late, and all four of them- already uneasy- were ready to spring into combat at the first sign of trouble. Rex went for his blasters before cursing upon remembering that they weren't there and hitched his pack higher onto his shoulders instead, trying to avoid as much eye contact with the battle droids searching the people going through customs. It was one of the few occasions that he was happy he'd grown his hair out a bit and neglected shaving. 

Platinum bangs only just dusted his forehead and almost white stubble covered a substantial amount of his jawline. Fives, already on the facial hair bandwagon, had elected to go as is. Cody had begrudgingly dyed his hair and eyebrows a sandy brown and let it grow to a rebellious length, while Echo was the lucky one who could just be himself with neat dark hair and an unassuming expression. They were clearly related, but only the truly observant would notice that they were identical. 

They found a bar and lodging place somewhat close by to the spaceport in case they needed to make a quick escape and elected for a second story double room with windows on two sides, then began rigorously unpacking their kit. 

Rex breathed a sigh of relief when he shoved one of his pistols behind his belt and the other into a concealed holster embedded in his jacket. You could never be too careful. He set his bag down on one of the beds in a room and laid out all the gear they would be using; Cody came over and began adding to the organized chaos with his own equipment. Fives and Echo did the same on the other bed. By the time this was done Rex realized his mistake and sighed.

"So, since we put all our equipment out on these ones..."

"We'll have to double up on the other two beds," Cody finished, glancing appraisingly at the door connecting the two rooms. Fives shrugged and Echo nodded. They obviously didn't mind. 

Rex wasn't looking forward to sharing a bed with Cody. He wasn't bothered by it; they'd had numerous missions and training exercises where entire companies would huddle up and sleep communally to keep warm from the cold elements. But Rex didn't want to sleep in the same bed as Cody because he was a cover-stealer and a kicker.

"This'll go smoothly, no doubt about it," Rex murmured, thinking of the sleepless nights ahead of him with chagrin. 


	44. Why is it Always Me?

The marketplace was actually... pretty peaceful. Rex found that he had time to properly enjoy his morning cup of caf and savored every second of it. Partially because he usually drank it on the go due to a busy schedule but mainly because he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep with Cody kicking him in the shins and then almost freezing to death because he had none of the covers. But he wasn't bitter as the beverage he was drinking, oh no. Not in the slightest. 

"Blast," Rex muttered quietly, taking a sip of his caf. His internal dialogue was getting almost as sarcastic as Kenobi recently. He supposed it had something to do with prolonged exposure to Anakin Skywalker. 

"Can I top you off?" The café waiter asked pleasantly. He was maybe fourteen or fifteen and eager to impress at his job. 

"Yeah, thanks." Rex exchanged smiles with the kid and then his gaze wandered back to the market. He was watching for suspect individuals.

"Must be nice to go on a trip with your brothers," the waiter commented mildly. 

"Mm." 

"They getting on your nerves?" 

"Every day of every year." The waiter laughed. He extended his hand to shake. Rex took it.

"Name's Daerin."

"Rex." 

"So... big family?" Rex chuckled, choking on his drink.

"You could say that." 

"Yeah, me too. Six sisters and two brothers. Lots and lots of cousins. You?"

"Oh, millions of cousins." Rex bit his lip to hide his sarcasm. Technically, it was true. Hardcase had begun calling anyone they weren't close to their cousins because they didn't know them well enough to be brothers. 

"See them often?"

"You could say that." Daerin gave him a quizzical, confused smile. 

" ...Okay. Look, I gotta ask. Those two with the dark hair, they look really-"

"Twins," Rex blurted out before he even thought it through.

"Thought so. Man, that'd be weird."

"What would?" Rex asked absently, burying his face in his wide-brimmed caf mug and inhaling the musky aroma with half-closed eyes. 

"Going around knowing someone's wearing the same face as you, you know?" Rex did a spit-take and tried not to cry from a combination of laughter and severe pain as the caf went up his nose and burned his nasal passages. 

"Yeah, yeah I uh... I can imagine." Tears began streaming involuntarily down his face. "Mm-" 

"Hey hey hey what'd you do to my brother!?" Cody exclaimed; he'd come walking up from their lodgings across the street. Daerin reared back with wide surprised eyes. 

"I- I don't-" 

"It's fine, it's fine," Rex mumbled, voice muddled because he was exhaling hard through his nostrils. "Cody, it's all good. I got caf up my nose. I'm fine. Stand down. No need to send in the medics." 

"Oh." Cody's hackles were still up; he was a good foot and some inches taller than Daerin was and the teenager definitely knew it. 

"Ugh. Right. Cody, Daerin. Daerin, Cody. _Daerin _was just asking about the family. Y'know, our brothers and all our cousins?" Cody raised an eyebrow skeptically. He didn't seem to get the joke yet. "Anyway, we started talking about the twins, and-"

"Twins?" Cody interrupted, confused. Rex made hand signals under the table, signing Echo and Fives' names in shorthand. "_Oh_. Right." 

"Yeah, and he was just saying how weird it would be to look exactly like someone else. You ever get that feeling?" Cody bit his lip and brought his hand up to his mouth to smother his laughter before it properly got started. Poor Daerin stood there with a look of well-meaning mild confusion on his face. 

"Is it something I said?" He asked. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Their little stakeout was going as planned. And "as planned" meant that everything was going wrong. Rex just liked to stay optimistic. 

"Fives, can you pull Cody in through the window?" He asked mildly. Fives nodded; Cody was dangling upside down in the branches of a tree next to the office building they were hiding in after being a little too close to the open window for his own good when Echo swung a heavy piece of machinery into a non-obstructive location. The Commander was muttering curses vibrantly under his breath while Fives brought him back in. 

"Go to the docks he says," Cody muttered sourly. "It'll be fine he says. Yeah, well I _went _to the docks like you suggested Rex. And it _wasn't _fine."

"You gonna cry about it, or are you gonna help me set up a good sniper's nest?" Rex retorted promptly. Cody huffed in annoyance before doing as asked. Echo and Fives were still busy barricading the exits, but they appeared about ten minutes later when the party was ready to get started. 

Rex bent down onto his heels and then slid onto his stomach, wishing fervently for his rangefinder but resigning himself to using the rifle scope. Everything was so much more difficult without armor. 

"You sure you know how to use that thing?" Fives asked. Rex turned to give him a calculated and exasperated look. "Just asking." 

"Course he knows how to use a sniper rifle," Echo commented. "After all, _you _do."

"Yeah but I- hey, what's that supposed to mean anyway?" 

"Quiet," Cody snapped. "They're approaching target."

"Visual," Rex added softly, his breathing scarily shallow and even. He was completely focused in. His finger lightly tapped the trigger as he moved the sight about looking for the droids. He let out a breath when he spotted them, then began counting. He was waiting for the entire patrol. A distinctly Neimodian male in a dark uniform and moved into the line of vision.

"Oh, that's interesting."

"What is?" Cody whispered. 

"We've got wets." Echo moved closer with a pair of macrobinoculars, flat on his stomach right next to Rex. 

"I count three- no, no. Two. Two confirmed wets, mark. Fourteen standard B-1s." 

"Marked," Rex murmured. Half their gear was back at the bar and lodging, the important stuff that would have made this job a snap. Still, spending the better part of a year and a half with Anakin Skywalker had taught him to be creative. The droids were standing next to a container of highly hazardous and corrosive waste product. _Perfect. _

"Just a little closer..." Rex exhaled deeply, closed his eyes for a brief moment, and then opened them to fire off a shot on the inhale. It zinged neatly between two droids and struck the container squarely on the side. 

The droids were covered in an explosion of sickly-looking magenta goo. Rex fired off another shot, this one directly into a droid's torso, and the whole contingency went up in flames. 

"You've been hanging out with Ailen," Echo commented amusedly. "Nice touch." 

"Gotta have that Torrent Company flourish," Fives joked. Cody sighed. 

"Can we go home now?" He asked. 

"Gotta dismantle the cell first ner vod," Rex reminded. 

"I just want things to make sense again..."

"Good luck. Won't happen, but good luck." 

"Luckily, the cell is coming to us," Echo said with a smile. There was a banging on one set of barricaded doors as if on cue. 

"Now this is gonna be _fun," _Fives stared enthusiastically as he charged up his pistols. Rex, doing the same, caught Cody's exasperated look and smirked. 

"Why is it always _me?" _The Commander sighed unhappily as they prepared to greet their guests. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit for the cousins thing goes to Clonehub on Tumblr! They come up with some of the best headcanons. So you know, this'll be a running gag I'll keep bringing up in later chapters. 
> 
> So I wrote this bit of fluff (previous chapter included) to have some happy times with Echo and Fives before I have to get into The Citadel storyline, which will be coming up in the next chapters (RIP my life). Ironically, I was watching the Unfinished Episodes while doing so and I was on the Bad Batch story arc. Excuse me while I go and cry.


	45. The Fire and the Flood I

The renovations to _Remembrance_ were going far slower than expected, and Rex was thinking it was high time that they got a move on. It was almost a relief to go on a suicide run to rescue Jedi Master Evan Piell. Unfortunately he was still working on getting their ship flight-worthy again, so Rex had to find a quiet corner to tap in via holocall into the briefing at the Jedi Temple. From the sound of things he was lucky. Cody had already been dragged into three meditation sessions and a lecture on Force-aided healing remedies prior to the briefing. Rex had listened quietly to the conversation and let Cody do the talking so far, but something was bugging him.

_"-e're essentially going in blind,"_ Skywalker was protesting.

"Beg your pardon General," Rex interrupted respectfully. "But how do we know that Piell is still alive?" The blue figure of Kenobi seemed amused. 

_"The Separatists won't dare kill Master Piell until they have what they need," _He replied. 

_"He obtained the coordinates of a secret hyperspace lane known as the Nexus Route," _Plo Koon explained. _"It travels into the heart of both Republic and Separatist homeworlds." _

_"They'd be vital, maneuvering our forces into difficult Separatist sectors," _Kenobi added.

_"The enemy could use them to slip through our defenses and attack Coruscant," _Skywalker added unnecessarily. Rex had gotten the picture at 'secret hyperspace coordinates' and hadn't been looking for a full-length explanation. He knew Cody would exact revenge on him for that later. 

_"These hyperspace lanes are of immense interest to both sides, and could easily tip the scale of the war to their possessor," _Koon stressed. _"That is all." _

_"Rex, Cody, have our volunteers meet in the Temple hangar," _Skywalker instructed. The meeting quickly dissolved, and Rex wrapped things up with the mechanics to join them there. Brye had been sulking about not being able to come, but he'd dislocated his kneecap and Kix was adamant. The same went for Jesse's shoulder, which was always coming out of socket due to an old training injury which hadn't quite healed right. 

At the hangar Skywalker filled them in on his scheme. 

"I've never been carbon-frozen before General," Rex pointed out uneasily. The freezing station was looking more and more threatening the closer they got to it. 

"First time for us too," Anakin admitted. He didn't seem all that thrilled either. 

"This is your idea?" Obi-wan protested.

"You wanted to shield us from the life-form scanners," Skywalker pointed out with some degree of smugness. Fives was inspecting the machinery skittishly. 

"We sure this thing is safe?" He asked as he got into position. "I really don't want to end up as a wall decoration." 

"Relax. We'll be unfrozen as soon as we arrive," Kenobi soothed. Rex didn't know about the rest of them, but he wasn't feeling very placated. An alarm sounded and they were slowly lowered in. The sides of the chamber rose over Rex's head and he felt his heart rate increase, the blood pounding in his ears. He did his best to keep his breathing level when all he really wanted to do was start hyperventilating. 

It wasn't as if he didn't trust General Skywalker to get them through. He just didn't trust that the General knew what he was doing was all. A numbing blast of frigid air slammed into his body, and everything turned black. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Sudden heat washed over him, and shivering Rex stepped- or rather stumbled- stiffly out of the carbonite slab. His was freezing, and had one killer headache. Vision was blurry and it hurt to breathe. He heard coughing near him and turned just at the wrong moment to see three Codys puke on his boots. Rex slapped his arms to try and warm himself up, kept shivering, and let out an exasperated sigh. At least the place they were in was warm. ...A little too warm. He was still cold, but his body was already reacting to the heat and he was beginning to sweat. Delightful. 

"You alright?" Obi-wan asked, coming over. Rex nodded, gaze focusing with surprise on the hazy double image of Ahsoka having a quiet but intense argument with her Master. 

"Fine sir," Rex replied hoarsely, giving Cody a glare as he slipped his helmet on. Cody shrugged apologetically and slapped his own bucket on his head. 

"You okay there Fives?" Rex asked. He was watching the ARC brace his arms and knees on the ground and attempt to figure out which way was up. Echo, out of all of them, seemed the least affected. In fact, his temperament would have suggested that he had just woken up from a very pleasant and rejuvenating nap. 

"He will be," Echo replied confidently. Fives' groan suggested otherwise.

"You know I wasn't aiming for your feet, right?" Cody asked somewhat nervously. Rex idly brushed a bit of caked mud off of his chest plate.

"Sure." 

"I'm serious."

"I know." Cody was about say something else when the rest of his men were thawed out, and he went to go make sure they were okay. While Skywalker gave R2 some last minute instructions the rest of them headed out. Rex fell into step next to Ahsoka.

"Hey kid," Rex said quietly.

"Hey Rexter," Ahsoka murmured half-heartedly.

"So, did Plo Koon send you with us or you decide to tag along on your own?"

"I was sent," she defended, the blue stripes on her irritatedly twitching lekku turning a darker shade of navy. 

"And to me?" The Togruta sighed.

"Fine, I came on my own. I shouldn't be here. You happy?"

"Happy to have you with us anyway," Rex replied promptly. 

"I have just as much ri- wait, you want me here?" Ahsoka asked, startled. Rex shrugged. 

"Well, you're here. No use debating anything about it is there? Let sleeping gundarks lie, I always say."

"No, Brye says that. You're the last person to say that." 

"Shh!" Cody hissed. 

"Yes mother," Rex needled pointedly. There was scattered snickering from Cody's men and from Echo and Fives. Ahsoka smirked as they crouched on a rocky ledge and surveyed the cliff face with macrobinoculars. Rex lowered his rangefinder and scanned the area; Anakin gratefully took the pair of binoculars he'd brought along and was offering because Anakin often forgot to pack his own. 

"I see the entry point," the Knight murmured.

"The wind _is _too strong for jet packs," Cody agreed. "You were right." 

“Yes, we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way,” Kenobi said. “With ascension cables and a steel grip.”

“I don’t think so,” Skywalker differed as he glanced momentarily away from the macrobinoculars. 

“What do you mean?”

“Electro-mines. Nowhere to put an ascension cable at that height, either.” Rex blinked a few times and his rangefinder moved back to the side of his helmet while Obi-wan borrowed the binoculars.

“I... suppose that means we free-climb it,” Rex offered unhappily. There were several groans over the comm. Yeah, he wasn’t excited about doing that on a semi-sheer face over a lake of bubbling lava either. 


	46. The Fire and the Flood II

The climb seemed to take forever. Maybe it was Rex’s nerves or his screaming fingers, or the fact that no sane individual would ever attempt this, or the million things that could send him to a horrendous death, or the strong wind which unsteadied him every single time he went to move upward, but the fifteen minutes it took felt more like hours. Anakin and Ahsoka were bantering a bit back and forth, but it was just loud enough to be heard over the wind. Rex only got bits and pieces and he was too nervous to care. 

Obi-wan, at the front of the pack, hauled his way up over to the edge of the platform and peered over. He suddenly dropped back down to hang off the edge in an impressive display of upper body strength and put one finger to his lips, indicating that there were sentries up and about. 

Rex pressed himself against the side and hoped that the pebble under his toes wouldn’t dislodge. He really hated rock climbing in general. He glanced down, and that was a really bad idea. So he pressed himself as flat as possible against the cliff face and did his best not to hyperventilate. Heights. Why was it always heights? 

It wasn’t as if he were scared of heights... it was just that it was so high up and every time he looked down all he could think about was almost plummeting to his death during the Geo II campaign. It wasn’t fear. It was properly placed paranoia.

...That sounded even more pathetic than scared. Sighing, he began climbing again when the all-clear was given. The all-clear being Obi-wan and Anakin arguing over what to do with a locked door rather loudly despite the sentry only having just left. Ahsoka ended it by volunteering to climb through the ventilation ducts and open it from the inside. 

Fives got up before Rex did, so the ARC gave him a hand up. The slab of durasteel platform was surprisingly slippery, so the captain was grateful when he didn’t die a fiery death. 

Charger was last up. Rex saw it too late to do anything, and it was like watching in slow motion as the trooper fell a long drop before frying on an electro-mine. It was a sickening way to go, and now they were discovered. Things were much more complicated than they needed to be. 

“Well, they know we’re here,” Kenobi said as the alarm began wailing. 

“Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible then,” Skywalker countered. They began creeping through the corridors on high alert. 

“Clear,” Ahsoka whispered after peering around about the fiftieth corner.

“Take our their surveillance,” Anakin ordered quietly as they ran. That wasn’t exactly the best idea, because as soon as Fives did that wall turrets began cross-firing through the junction. Rex gritted his teeth and hunkered down to get a clear shot while his general deflected fire in front of him. When that was over there was the sound of a generator starting up, and it was a tough run to outpace the electric shock traveling along the wall. Longshot, one of Cody’s men, didn’t make it. 

“We must keep going,” Kenobi said. His gaze was dark; he took the loss of his troops just as badly- if not moreso because he buried deep- as Anakin did. 

They continued through the corridors until they reached the maximum security sector. 

“Permission to take point sir?” Fives asked eagerly. 

“Echo, take him with you,” Rex replied. Echo snickered, but nodded. “You’re good with springing traps.” 

“Will do sir.” The two ARCs crept ahead a few steps, then disappeared around a corner. 

“Since when do you let anyone but yourself take point?” Cody asked. Rex shrugged.

“They’re eager. And besides, the only person I’d trust more than Echo to spring a trap is the one who laid it in the first place.” 

“Object sighted,” Fives murmured over the comm. 

“Take,” Rex immediately responded. There was the sound of blasterfire directly up ahead as the rest of the party raced to catch up, and the Captain followed the two ARCs into one of the cells. General Piell was hanging in a suspension field in the middle of the tiny room, looking the worse for wear but otherwise unharmed. He also looked annoyed and temperamental. 

“Secure the entrance,” Anakin ordered to the men remaining in the hallway as he slashed the field generator with his lightsaber. Piell dropped into Kenobi’s arms, and he gently lowered their fellow Jedi to the floor. 

“Master, are you all right?” He asked.

“Obi-wan,” Piell rasped exasperatedly. “What took you guys so long?” Anakin and Obi-wan exchanged a knowing look.

“At least your sense of humor is still intact,” he sighed. 

“It takes more than they got to break me, young Skywalker.” Piell impatiently stumbled to his feet and accepted his retrieved lightsaber, which Kenobi had offered to him. 

“So you have the Nexus Route coordinates?” 

“I got them, all right.” There was a pause. “Half, anyway. My Captain’s got the other half.” 

“Oh, _great..._” Cody sighed over the internal comm. Evan Piell was continuing his explanation. 

“I erased the computers before they boarded. Had each of us memorize half of the intel. That way, if somehow I cracked, the information would be useless to them without the other half.”

“And where’s your Captain?” Kenobi asked.

“Being held with the other officers, I assume.”

“We’re gonna need a new plan for getting out,” Skywalker muttered exasperatedly. 

“Let’s go officer hunting then, shall we?” Fives suggested in an attempt at livening up the tone. He sounded resigned as he said it. They departed the cell and advanced through the corridors in their cautious manner once again. 

There was a moment where they were ambushed on both front and back flanks by a squad of commando droids, and after a few tense minutes they were able to leave a pile of smoking scrap in their wake. Naturally, only a few paces further they were met with a high-pitched whirring noise. Rex felt two sensations at that moment: the first most likely being his eardrums bleeding and the second definitely his blasters being yanked out of his hands as a magnetic field sent them careening up to the ceiling along with the rest of the group’s weapons. General Skywalker’s metal arm accompanied them. 

“Anakin!” Kenobi yelped, startled. His level of concern clearly showed the protectiveness a Master had for their Padawan, whether current or former. 

“Master!” Ahsoka chimed in as a field of purple electricity shot across the magnetic ceiling panels, electrocuting him. Mercifully, the whirring noise ended. Unfortunately, they now had nothing to drown out the voice of the warden over the prison’s comm system as they were surrounded by a new squad of commando droids, this time weaponless. 

_“You fools! I hoped you enjoyed your reunion with your fellow Jedi, because you’re going to be my guests for a very long time.” _

“Does he have to rub it in?” Echo griped on the internal comm. Piell, Kenobi, and Ahsoka were Force-pushing the droids back as far as they could go before their magnetic feet locked in place. 

“He likes to hear himself speak,” Rex grumbled back. He was trying to figure out the best way to fight back without blasters or anything metallic that could be sent up to the ceiling. The droids started firing. Naturally, they were allowed weapons. 

All men, 501st and 212th, engaged in hand to hand in an attempt to wrestle the blasters away from the enemy and possibly use them in retaliation. It was going about as expected. 

The sound of crackling electricity above, the activation of a lightsaber, and finally something short-circuiting ended with all their weapons- and Anakin Skywalker- crashing to the floor. The droids were scrap after that.

“You all right sir?” Echo asked as he helped their General to his feet.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.” Rex lingered at the back to cover their escape, then slowly and purposefully leveled his pistol at the security camera before firing. It was petty, he knew, but it was still immensely satisfying. 

Through several more corridors they ran, until Kenobi suddenly slowed. He began edging forward, stalking, with one foot and then another in a side rhythm to minimize noise. Skywalker, copying his movements, stopped in front of a cell door, then activated his lightsaber and shoved it through the durasteel. There was the sound of a droid dying on the other side. The door opened and Ahsoka flew in to kick the remaining droid in the face before stabbing it in the chest. 

“General,” a very proper voice said from the corner. He was the only non-clone officer in the cell. The look on his face, let alone the others, suggested that they hadn’t expected a rescue.

“Captain Tarkin,” Piell greeted roughly. 

“I never thought I’d see you again,” Tarkin commented mildly. He was pleased, if not particularly grateful. “And you brought... friends.” Rex, who had been attending to one of his brothers, got a look from his charge that said plainly ‘this is what I’ve had to put up with.’ 

“This is Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker,” Piell introduced. 

“Well, now that you’ve found us how do we get out? If they locked the fortress down you can expect at least ten squads already on their way. It’s going to be impossible to escape.” 

“Thanks for telling us something we already knew,” Fives muttered over the comm. 

“Fives...” Rex chastised warningly.

“No no, he’s got a point,” Cody defended. Rex gave the tiniest of shrugs in response. One of the captives- the one in officer’s uniform to be exact- arched an eyebrow at them. He knew full well they were having a little running commentary session and it was obvious he felt left out. 

“What if we split up?” Obi-wan suggested calmly, though it was obvious he was somewhat offended. “My team can create a diversion, while Anakin leads the others away. That way if one of us is captured, they’ll only get half the the information.” 

“Translation: Cody gets to blow stuff up and we get to babysit the civvy officer,” Fives sighed. Echo, who had been patrolling in the hall, smacked him in the shoulder. 

“Knock it off,” Rex snapped. Cody snickered as they exited into the corridor. 

“General Kenobi, I think it’s best if we stick together. A stronger force would have a better chance at protecting the information.” 

“Did he just-” Echo exclaimed. Rex, who happened to be standing right behind the civilian Captain, had a front row seat. 

“Not in _this _situation,” Kenobi replied tersely, turning on his heel. It was his ‘I’m done with you’ movement. Tarkin wasn’t going to be so easily dissuaded.

“But surely we’d have more strength in numbers, rather than divide us?” Piell paused on the steps.

“Obi-wan has a point,” he said in a tone that suggested he not be argued with. “So I’ll go with him, and you go with Skywalker.” 

“Good luck,” Cody murmured. “You’re gonna need it.” They moved their separate ways down the halls, and a few minutes later a muffled but extensive explosion rippled through the Citadel about a level or two above them. 

Skywalker paused to consult their map, then went over to a wall section and shoved his lightsaber in before cutting a hole in it. 

“Everyone in,” he ordered while Fives and Echo pushed the piece out into the space beyond.

“This must be one of the old tunnel systems,” Echo murmured.

“Advantage of old archive data,” Rex commented off-handedly as he watched Ahsoka scamper down the path, scouting ahead. She seemed especially eager to prove she was up for any challenge presented to her on this specific occasion. 

“Tunnel’s clear!” Ahsoka called; she’d disappeared from sight around a bend. 

“Looks like Obi-wan’s distraction worked,” Anakin commented to Tarkin. “Seems to be going to plan.” 

“It’s when things don’t go as planned that worries me,” Tarkin sniffed. “What then?” 

“When things _don’t_ go to plan, _we Jedi _are at our _best_,” Skywalker snapped. His patience was wearing thin. “Trust me.”

“I reserve my trust for those who take _action, General _Skywalker.” 

“Are we about to witness a homicide?” Echo asked uneasily. Rex sighed. 

“Let me remind you, we rescued _you _back there,” Anakin growled. “And I reserve _my _trust for those who understand _gratitude, Captain _Tarkin.” 

“Close the hole up,” Rex ordered. Echo and Fives nodded, grabbing up the slab of metal and shoving it back in position. They began walking through the tunnel, the heat of the lava vents almost unbearable.


	47. The Fire and the Flood III

“Artoo, you and your battle droids ready to go?” Skywalker asked. There was a series of affirmative beeps over the comm. “Right. Then get the ship fired up, and we’ll meet you at the pipeline exit once you’ve picked up Obi-wan... assuming he’s still on schedule.” 

“General Kenobi’s _always _on schedule sir,” Echo pointed out. “_We’re _the ones always running late.” 

“Lies,” Fives countered. “_Cody’s _always on time. Kenobi is fashionably late. Though I’ll give you the fact that he’s usually catching up with us when he is.” 

“Enough treasonous chatter,” Anakin laughed. “Now where’d Ahsoka get off to?” 

“Is it always like this with you lot?” One of the rescued clones from Piell’s unit whispered. 

“Entertaining, isn’t it?” Rex whispered back. 

They continued walking through the tunnels, Ashoka leading the way because it was easier for her to sneak about than them, with Captain Tarkin right behind her and Rex directly behind _him. _Skywalker brought up the tear, taking care of any probe droids that crossed their path. 

“I am beginning to admire the design of this fortress,” Tarkin said after a while. “It is almost impossible to invade.”

“How can you admire such a horrible place?” Ashoka retorted, her disgust only just barely disguised as respectful disagreement. Tarkin all but patted her on the head.

“You reveal your short-sightedness,” he said primly. “This ordeal only demonstrates how effective facilities like this Citadel are. It’s a pity it ended up in Separatist hands, and not ours.” 

“He has a point,” Anakin commented apologetically to his Padawan once the Captain had moved just out of earshot. Ahsoka just fixed him with a glare that could have melted durasteel more effectively than her lightsabers ever had. Skywalker sighed. “All right, Snips. Need you to lead the group. Keep following the tunnel, and I’ll catch up.”

“And where are _you _going?” She protested. Her lekku were turning a more vibrant shade of navy due to angry embarrassment at being called her nickname in front of Tarkin. 

“Well, Obi-wan’s not here so someone has to protect our flank.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I came along after all,” Ahsoka said smugly. Skywalker cast her a disapproving scowl and continued on his way. Fives gave her the tiniest of thumbs-up as she walked past to the front. 

Tarkin fell into step beside Rex, a worried yet self-important look on his face. 

“I am concerned that the Jedi have elected this... _child _to leave the group,” he said quietly. Apparently he was unaware that Togruta had much more heightened senses than humans, because it was obvious he thought she couldn’t hear. 

“I’ve served with her many times, and _I trust her_, Captain,” Rex retorted pointedly. Echo and Fives had bristled behind him; no one talked about Ahsoka like that in front of Torrent Company. She was their girl, and they were her boys. Just a bunch of kids trying to make it to the end of the war under the command of a potentially sane individual who liked to blow things up. 

“Uh oh,” Ahsoka muttered. Rex winced. He and Tarkin rounded the corner and saw exactly what she had. 

“Dead end,” Rex sighed. 

_“We’ve got other problems,”_ Echo added over the internal comm. _“Something’s following-”_

“Look out!” Fives shouted through the external speaker as a blaster bolt zinged past his helmet. They all pressed themselves against the rock face as several SBDs approached down the path, and Ahsoka leapt out to take the brunt of the fire as she deflected the bolts with her lightsaber. Seemingly out of nowhere, Anakin dropped from the ceiling to take care of them with a bunch of shielded Commando droids in tow. 

“Why didn’t you blow the wall!?” He snapped. “That part of the plan was _your _job!” 

“I _thought _it was a dead end,” Ahsoka growled, moving toward Rex. He slipped easily out of his pack containing the detonators and let her have it while he kept blasting. 

“If Master Plo _really _assigned you to this mission, he would have briefed you on the plan.” 

_“I _didn’t know we were supposed to blow it,” Rex pointed out as Ahsoka primed the wall. “And that seems like something I should have known about, yes?” Skywalker groaned in response. Ahsoka appeared a few seconds later, det in each hand, and they all hit the dirt as she tossed them into the droids. The wall exploded a few moments later. 

She sniffed and lifted her chin as she passed by Skywalker, letting him know she was miffed at him. Things were relatively uneventful along the way to the pipeline after that. And while the tunnel itself was full of gas, there didn’t seem to be anyone inside. Careful not to set of any electric pulses, they continued on. 

“How long are we going to wander about in this tunnel?” Tarkin asked - like an impatient child - after about ten minutes. 

“Captain Tarkin, haven’t you learned to trust me by now?” Anakin asked, glancing back with a smirk. 

“_You _may have earned my trust Master Skywalker, but my faith in your comrades is still lacking.” 

_“Who _does _he think he is!?” _Fives growled over internal comm. Echo gave the slightest of shrugs. 

“_He’s a commissioned normie, ner vod. They always think they’re better than us because they were born and not, quote, hatched. Unquote.” _

_“They’re pretty self-important, don’t you think?” _

_“I think that many of them _do _need to get over themselves,” _Rex interrupted, _“but that some are okay. Like Yularen.”_

_“Yularen can join us in the Mess any day,” _Echo agreed. _“Anyone willing to jump in a prototype stealth vessel with Skywalker has my respect and admiration.” _They were interrupted by Ahsoka, who had been running atop the pipe next to them to see farther ahead. 

“I think I’ve found a way out,” she said before leaping up the ladder and cautiously opening the hatch to the merest of slits.

“What do you see, Snips?” Anakin asked. 

“The coast is clear.” 

“Any sign of Obi-wan, and the shuttle?” 

“No, I don’t see him or Artoo anywhere.” Naturally, as soon as she opened it all the way the sound of cocking blasters could be heard overhead. Then the whoosh of a lightsaber, and sparking droid pieces landed in the gas-filled tunnel. Rex felt sweat break out on his forehead and he sighed in relief when the thick atmosphere didn’t ignite. 

“We’ve gotta go!” Ahsoka shouted down into the tunnel. 

“There could be a whole battalion of droids out there!” Tarkin protested. 

“Better than hiding in a fuel line,” Skywalker pointed out. He was already halfway up the ladder. The two Jedi protected their escape while Rex hoisted himself out, dropped down the pipe’s side, and landed in a roll on the ground before leading the way to safety with the rest of the group on his heels. 

“The plan’s been compromised!” Tarkin complained. 

“Throw me a charge!” Skywalker ordered, ignoring the man. Rex did so promptly, and the General threw it with perfect aim into the pipe after it bounced off the lid of the hatch and sealed it. Now pressurized, the gas exploded all down the fuel line. Tarkin cowered as a crab droid went flying through the air and landed with a heavy thud in the dust in front of him. 

“Time for Plan B,” Anakin said almost cheerily as they dusted themselves off. 

“There’s a Plan B?” Tarkin asked incredulously. 

“There’s always a backup plan.” Skywalker strolled across the crab droid remains and kept going. “We’ll meet Artoo at Obi-wan’s position.” 

“We have backup plans to our backup plans,” Ahsoka added a touch too smugly. 

“Yeah, and when that doesn’t work we improvise,” Fives added. 

“Precisely.” Ahsoka smirked.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Blaster fire was everywhere when they arrived.

“Sorry I’m late,” Skywalker apologized as he slid into cover next to his old Master. 

“So nice of you to join us!” Kenobi retorted sarcastically. 

“Running short on supplies are we?” Rex asked. Cody nodded. 

“And men. The Commandant’s brutal, and the air ducts had intruder failsafes installed.”

“Sounds... pleasant.” 

“You have a nice walk then?”

“Yeah, sure. Strolling along a ledge next to lava and then through a pressurized fuel line is my idea of a good time.” 

“We need to launch a full-frontal assault and take that vessel!” Tarkin shouted, interrupting the reunion. Rex gritted his teeth. 

“We have a bigger problem,” Obi-wan objected. The set to his jaw indicated that he disliked the idea almost as much as Rex and Cody did. “Those turrets. If we don’t take them out, they’ll blow up the shuttle and prevent our escape.” 

“Which is precisely why we should board the shuttle and use the weapons to decimate the droids!” 

“Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it fast,” Anakin broke in impatiently. He pointed at the droids coming in on mounted flight turrets just as they opened fire. It was a hot few minutes of fighting simply to survive during which the Jedi did what Jedi do best, and Rex and Cody covered each others’ flanks while Echo and Fives, ever the iconic duo, launched dets into the thickest parts of the droid ranks. 

And then...

**“ECHO, LOOK OUT!!!”**

A huge explosion rocked the landing pad and all but drowned out Fives’ desperate warning as the shuttle exploded, sending everyone - including the droids - face first into the ground. 

**“ECHO!!!”**

“We have to go _now_,” Kenobi ordered, his brow set determinedly but his pupils dilated with shock. There were simply too many droids to fight, and now there was no point in holding their ground that the shuttle was gone. 

“Fives!” Cody shouted. Fives hesitated, obviously heartbroken, before following the Commander in retreat. Rex took one last look behind them and couldn’t keep the hot, angry tears from stinging his cheeks inside his stuffy helmet as they left the smoking remains of Echo’s helmet on the ground. 

He’d make sure they would pay in scrap before they got off the planet. Somehow, he would fit in the simple act of poetic justice. 


	48. A Fading Echo

“Fives? Are you- do you- wanna talk about it?” Tup asked quietly, his voice small and unsure. Fives, lying face down on Echo’s bunk in the barracks, turned his head slightly so that he was facing the wall. 

“Okay, maybe later then.” Tup sighed, shoulders sagging in defeat as he turned away. They were much narrower in breadth, Rex suddenly realized, than either his or his other brothers of same age, and he wondered if he had ever looked that young and vulnerable.

Glancing about the barracks he noticed for the first time that the younger recruits were slimmer in build and slightly shorter than the Old Guard were, and it made his breath catch in his throat. They were all just so... _young._ Echo had only been ten years old and four months when he’d- and most of the newest troops were still nine. Rex himself was just shy of eleven and a half and aside from Jesse, Brye, and Kix he was the oldest there. Ailen and Denal had both only just turned eleven. 

The door opened and they all started sharply as General Kenobi halted in the entrance, wary of stepping fully in and crossing some sort of unspoken line that they were all aware existed. To invade the personal space of those who had never had nor never would have anything else left to call their own without prior consent was a serious matter.

“Any news?” Rex asked. His voice was hoarse. Obi-wan shook his head ‘no,’ eyes dark with defeat. The room, only seconds before full of hope, seemed to have the light sucked out of it. 

“No. They still haven’t found her yet.”

“First we lose-” Brye swallowed heavily as everyone turned to look at him. His eyes were dark and shimmering with suppressed tears. “And now Ahsoka’s gone missing. Are we cursed or something?” 

“Or are we making up for lost time?” a Shiny asked sourly. “We’ve had the lowest casualty to difficulty of assignment ratio in the entire frontlines GAR since the war started. Are we catching up with everyone else?” 

“You weren’t on Teth,” Ailen snapped, eyes blazing hot with anger. “Don’t ever say we’ve had it lucky with our numbers.” Obi-wan managed to catch Rex’s eye as the entire barracks erupted into loud and angry argument, and the two slipped out into the hall. 

“Anakin won’t leave the Temple,” Kenobi explained quietly. It was easy for Rex to see, after having spent extended time with the man, that he was upset. “He won’t even leave the tactical room. Nothing I say seems to make a difference.” 

“I’ll have a word with him,” Rex assured. Obi-wan gave an appreciative nod, hesitated before laying a comforting hand briefly on the Captain’s shoulder, and then departed. Rex braced himself before walking back in to the chaos. 

_“_**_ALL RIGHT THAT’S ENOUGH!” _**He shouted. The entire barracks froze, all eyes wide and shocked. Rex never yelled at them when he could more effectively issue commands with quiet authority. He cleared his throat and then continued on with soft disappointed firmness, which scared them more. When he sounded disappointed it meant he was so angry that he was physically restraining himself from throttling someone (usually Hardcase or Brye). 

_“This is a difficult time for the entire Company. If we’re gonna get through this we need to stick together. We’re not cursed, and we’re not lucky. We’re skilled, and we use smart tactics. You can’t expect the newcomers to understand what it was like at the beginning, and the newcomers can’t expect the veterans to understand the pressure they have since their training ended before it was completed. But we can all understand just fine that we’re scared, and that we’re hurting. Focus on what you _do _know and put aside what you don’t, because I promise you this: if we can’t come together now then this will tear us apart. And the next time we gear up to fight it’s likely most of us won’t be coming back.” _He fixed them with a tired look. 

“I’m going to the Temple to check in with Skywalker,” he continued in a normal tone and stress of voice. “I expect you to have figured it out by the time I get back. Fives, with me. Better wear your formal fatigues.”

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Rex hadn’t actually been sure that Fives would obey, but a few minutes later they had left the Coruscant GAR barracks and were headed for the Jedi Temple in their smart formal uniforms. As usual, people stopped what they were doing long enough to stare; it was rare that they ever got to see a clone trooper out of armor or even simply with their helmets off.

“They look so young,” someone whispered. To anyone else it would have been impossible to catch the words, but they had been trained to utilize all their senses to their utmost and optimum efficiency, and it carried easily. Rex’s step faltered slightly, breaking perfect and subconscious rhythm with Fives. 

“Sir?” He murmured uncertainly. 

“I’m fine. Just... it’s been a hard few days.” Fives nodded in understanding, swallowing hard to stop himself from crying in a public venue. “The Temple’s not far. Come on.” 

They had been raised to suppress their feelings. Emotions were messy and inconvenient, so unlike the machine efficiency the Kaminoans wanted and so incredibly _sentient _that they had no place in the perfect slave army. If you had a problem, you dealt with it rationally and compartmentalized. Above all, the issue was not to interfere with one’s work. 

It meant that they had a hard time properly expressing grief or trauma, and it was leading to a lot of problems with PTS and ghosting. There was no counseling in the GAR because they didn’t require it. Truth was, they probably required it just for the problem that they didn’t. 

Rex shook his head slightly. He was confusing _himself _now. But one thing struck him as something of note, and that had been his knee-jerk reaction to immediately label himself and his brothers as part of a slave army. Did he really think that? 

They passed by a group of civilians protesting the war and the use of the clone army and was surprised to find that he actually did. 

They’d had no choice but to go out and fight. To serve and take orders unquestioningly. They’d been born for it, and it was all they knew how to do. They had no pay, no leave. Just the endless toil until they eventually died or the war ended, whichever came first. 

If given the choice, Echo would probably have become a teacher to a young group of children instead of fight

“Why did you take me with you, sir?” Fives asked quietly as they ascended the Temple’s steps. 

“You needed a change of scenery, and you’ve never been.” 

“I didn’t need a-” 

“Fives.” 

“...Thanks.” He was looking anywhere except into Rex’s eyes. “I’m not taking this well.”

“You just lost your last Squad Brother. I wouldn’t expect you to.” Fives hesitated before speaking again.

“Ever had it happen to you?” 

“No.”

“Really?” He registered surprise. “I thought, because it’s just you and Brye...”

“Most do.” Rex’s smile was dark. “Teri, Aeric, and Chester. Our other squad mates. We were too good at what we did, unfortunately. They separated us for specialized training in different respective fields right before Geo I. That was the last time we fought together, and I got split from the rest early into the battle. Haven’t seen them since, and I don’t know where they’re stationed so I can’t call. Don’t have the time to look either, the way you guys keep me running about putting out fires.” 

“I think that’s worse than knowing they’re gone,” Fives murmured sympathetically. “The not knowing.” They were walking through the ornate halls with the vaulted ceilings now. Rex considered for a moment. 

“I suppose. But I wouldn’t wish either on anyone for the world.” 

“No.” 

They went to talk to General Skywalker in the Tactical Room, and while they couldn’t get him to leave or sleep they _did _succeed in persuading him to eat something, which was a small victory that they were willing to accept. Afterward, Rex made a detour accompanied by a confused Fives to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. 

Rex was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to just roam the Temple without supervision when the area wasn’t designated as military for the duration of the war, but no one seemed to care that they were there. In fact, they passed several Jedi both too old and too young to do any field fighting as they moved through the little pools and rivers to sit in the soft, thick grass next to the waterfall. 

The holographic ceiling portrayed a synthetic view of the stars visible in the Coruscant night sky above them, and they laid out on their backs side by side and just soaked in the peace and calm for a while. 

After a little bit Fives hesitantly tapped Rex on the top of his hand. He was asking. Rex responded in like kind to let him know it was okay, and they entwined their fingers together. Just laid there, looking at the stars and missing their brothers, quietly grieving for Echo. Rex didn’t need to look over to see that Fives was crying. 

Things had quieted down by the time they got back to barracks; everyone was heaped together in a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor. Legs and arms were tangled hopelessly together, everyone needing the reassurance of the warmth of their brothers beside them that night. Fives and Rex exchanged a glance before changing into their fatigues and worming their way into the group. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

When Ahsoka got back from her ordeal as Trandoshan ceremonial hunting prey she was pretty shaken, and she was admitted immediately into the Temple’s med wing with the other Padawans. While she was in there she had terrible nightmares, so when she was released Obi-wan and Anakin decided to camp out in front of her quarters for the first night or so to let her know that she was safe and that she wasn’t alone. 

They had a hard time even getting close to the door because they had to step over 150 sleeping troopers who had already beaten them to it, but eventually they fell asleep against the wall with Obi-wan’s head resting against Anakin’s shoulder and Anakin’s chin resting on his forehead. Fives was curled into a tight ball against Rex’s side a few feet away surrounded by the rest of the Old Guard. 

Everyone needed companionship every now and again, even troopers and Jedi.


	49. Olé!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff before Umbara *shudders*

They’d been at war for two years. It was kind of hard to believe; some days it felt like no time had passed at all and others it felt as if decades had gone by and somehow forgotten them. 

Two years since the first battle of Geonosis. In that time they had seen so much, and done so much more. It had taken four months, but Fives had finally come to terms with Echo’s death. Rex doubted he would ever get over it - Rex had a feeling that he himself never would - but he was smiling again at Ailen’s jokes and even helped Brye stage a few hazing pranks for the new shinies when they arrived. Above all, he frustrated Kix for brushing off serious injuries and was invaluable support to Rex. The kid had really come into his own; his shoulders had finally broadened and he had shaved his full, well-kept beard - which Jesse had called “the beard of mourning” into a goatee that actually made him appear quite handsome. 

He was impulsive though, and prone to emotional action. Echo had always tempered his brash tendencies with reason, and the more confident Fives got the more Rex missed him. 

Losing Echo had been a stab to the heart which had left him hollow for the next few weeks immediately following his death, and Rex was afraid of what losing Fives would do to him if it ever happened. He wondered if it wouldn’t kill him.

“Sir, duck!” The shout broke him out of his darkened thoughts. Out of habit, Rex dropped flat onto his stomach on the floor before looking for the projectile. A bolo-ball went zinging through the air right where his head had been only moments before and thudded into a wall to richochet; he watched it roll across the floor in front of him back the way it had come. 

“Sorry sir.” It was a shiny. There was a group of them huddled together looking absolutely mortified. “It got away from us.” 

“Personally? I would have aimed at his head on purpose and shouted something at the last moment to make sure it hit him in the face,” Hardcase laughed as he scooped the ball up and kneed it back toward the group. 

“Your concern is touching Hardcase,” Rex muttered sarcastically as he heaved himself back to his feet. 

“Anytime, Rex.” 

“B-but he’s our commanding officer,” a shiny protested. He had an intricate “V” tattooed across his face and a rather severely short haircut. 

“So?” 

“You have to call him ‘sir.’ Or ‘Captain.’ In a pinch I might even accept ‘Alor’ad.’ But definitely _not _by his name.” 

“And what’s yours?” Rex chuckled. They went through this with every new batch of troopers, who quickly dropped standard protocol after the first week. These would be no different. ...There was always a first time for everything.

The trooper with the face tattoo straightened abruptly, coming to attention with the stiffest posture Rex had ever seen.

“Dogma sir!” 

“Well Dogma, I actually prefer being referred to like a normal human being, please and thank you. You can drop the ‘sir’ except for official channels, okay?” The other shinies nodded, looking relieved that they weren’t in trouble. Dogma frowned. 

“But that’s not protocol, sir.” 

“You can take your protocol and bury it in this instance.” 

“I’m liking this assignment more and more,” one of the others laughed. He considered something for a moment before holding out the bolo-ball expectantly. Rex winked before leaning over and whispering into Hardcase’s ear. They had themselves a game. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

“I’m open! Pass, pass!”

“Block him, do your job and block him!” 

It was like organized chaos. Everyone had a general idea of which team they were on, and Skywalker was refereeing. He’d been a field player once but had then been trampled by many enthusiastic armored children, so he made an excuse to referee to get out of ending up in the med wing at the end. Ahsoka, on the other hand...

“Bring it on!” She yelled. Yularen, Who was facing her, smiled primly and then made a spectacular pass to Kix. Those two were an unstoppable force on the field. Hardcase, to avoid the five broken arms and three cracked ribs which had occurred last time, was pacing up and down in the confines of the goal box practically frothing at the mouth with excitement. 

Rex feinted left and then dodged right, hurdling Jesse and landing neatly on his foot. Brye flashed past at breakneck speed, leaped over the ball, and startled Tup as the poor man came up to their goal with the object of everyone’s desire. This made it easy for Rex to slide in on the ground and swipe in away with a flick of his ankle. Ailen actually cheered from their goal box, which was now unthreatened. 

The entire ship shuddered slightly as another vessel docked; there was a brief pause in the game but no one was concerned. After all, the deck officer currently in charge wasn’t stupid. About ten minutes later Obi-wan and Cody, along with a few of the boys from the 212th, walked into their commandeered training deck. They took a respite in the match to speak with them. 

“Fixer said we might find you here,” Kenobi said. He was amused.

“Yeah, they’ve got the security feed up on the holo and they’re treating it like a FGBA game,” Cody joked. 

“You jealous or you wanna join?” Rex asked promptly, taking a swig of water and wetting his hands a bit to rub the cool liquid across the back of his neck. He and everyone else were breathing hard from the exertion. Cody raised an eyebrow. 

“I wasn’t aware I was giving you a choice,” he retorted smugly. 

“Can I join?” Obi-wan asked somewhat sheepishly. His cheeks reddened in embarrassment when they turned to look at him. 

“More the merrier,” Rex replied invitingly. “Oh. But you have to be on the team opposing Ahsoka. It’s only fair.” 

“What about Anakin?” A quick point to where he was sitting on the sidelines with the referee gear. “Ah. Not keen then.”

“Getting trampled in a stampede does that to people, oddly enough.” Cody snickered at the comment. 

They soon divvied up the newcomers into an even split and resumed the game. It became significantly more competitive, because what ended happening was that they started a completely new match that pitted 212th against 501st. 

In the end Cody ended up grinding Rex into the floor with a questionably legal tackle, Brye launched himself at Cody with the intention of pummeling him, and the match had to break up because someone had set off flares and the fire suppression system kicked in. All in all, it was a typical bolo-ball match.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIFA (fee-fah) stands for “Fédération Internationale de Football Association” so by default:  
FGBA (fig-bah) stands for “Federation of the Galactic Bolo-ball Association”
> 
> Lol I’m such a nerd.


	50. The Darkness Within I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UMBARA *Psycho Theme plays*

The men hadn’t seen Fives in two months. After what had happened at the Citadel, he’d taken some time to do solo missions. Scouting for Commando ops in advance, doing base checkups, and running information from GAR headquarters to the Senate. In general, whatever he could get away with as an ARC Trooper that let him be to himself without being surrounded by people who knew him too well for him to fake being okay. So, seeing him step off the gunship set off a lot of alarm claxons in Rex’s head. 

Not only had Fives been the one to deliver the mission orders from HQ to Skywalker and Kenobi, but he was temporarily assigning himself back to Torrent Company to assist with the op and had - apparently at the request of the Senate - brought along several other companies requisitioned from the 501st currently stationed as Coruscant Security to make up a full Attack Battalion minimum contingency. But only the seasoned ones, of course. 

Of course, the rest of the Company were thrilled but cautious to see Fives. His time away hadn’t done him any favors; he was looking ragged and seemed to have a permanently haunted look about him. Kix had immediately asked if he was getting enough sleep and Fives had brushed it away with a weak excuse before changing the subject. It spoke volumes to all of them that Fives had insisted on assigning himself to a gunship that didn’t have any of the Old Guard on board, either. 

Rex was under the impression that this particular mission was cursed, because in his experience any operation that started out with Ahsoka and Anakin arguing over her being left behind on the cruiser with Yularen - under the guise of Anakin’s famous “but I need you to coordinate the campaign from there because we’ll have a hard fight above and below” line of complete and utter Ronto dung - coupled with the unexplained division among the men that they were experiencing always ended in disaster. 

The heavy fire they received while in the gunships only confirmed this belief. 

“There’s a lot of surface fire,” Rex commented uneasily. Skywalker leaned out through the open side to get a better look and nodded grimly. 

“They ain’t got nothin’ we can’t handle sir!” Hardcase countered with his unshakeable confidence. Naturally, that was when a gunship exploded directly next to them, making the entire transport shudder. Rex heard a shaky intake of breath and glanced over to see Tup holding on to his grip with both hands tightly enough to be white-knuckled under his gauntlets. After crashing on Geonosis in the second campaign, he’d always been afraid of flying in the Larties. Felt too exposed. 

“Hanging in there Tup?” Rex asked kindly. Tup’s deceptively impassive helmet turned toward him and nodded. 

“So far so good, Captain.” Rex couldn’t help but smile slightly in the privacy of his own helmet. Tup was freaking out, admirably holding it together like he’d been trained to do. In some ways, he was braver than every single one of them for facing his fears on a consistent basis. 

_“General Skywalker, I have to turn the lights off.” _The voice of their pilot, Hawk, crackled over the comm. _“Night vision sensors can’t pick up anything in this chop. Don’t want to overshoot the landing site.”_

“Get us as close as you can,” Skywalker replied back. Hawk would do his best and they all knew it. 

“Time to lock and _load,_” Hardcase cackled. Spatter groaned before climbing on to his Walker stationed at the back of the ship. When they got low enough, he dropped out the back as it opened a ramp. The Walkers were clearing away the anti-air emplacements before the Larties could land, and they had a _lot _of them. 

The ship rocked again as a burst exploded mere inches from the hull of their craft, and Tup let out a slight whimper as he adjusted his grip on the handle and steadied himself. The planet of Umbara yawned darkly before them through the open bay doors, and Rex didn’t like the look of it one bit. 

The sky was eternally night and overcast, with no stars to be seen. The ground was obscured by a thick layer of fog and smoke from the raging battle, but bioluminescent vegetation could be seen glowing faintly red and sickly pink-purple through the haze. No doubt there were millions of vines and creepers snaking their way across peat-like soil, and it was unlikely that they would find anything edible that wasn’t poisonous to their species. And as for the enemy...

What little Rex had seen of their technology told him they were more advanced than the Republic. They had the home-field advantage, and they weren’t droids. They also believed in what they were fighting for with the deepest conviction, and Torrent Company - or at least the Old Guard - didn’t get why they were invading a planet that didn’t want to be Republic-ruled. Rex himself had doubts. Surely it was their choice? But then again, what did any of _them_ know about being allowed to make important life decisions of that sort? 

They came down for their landing and landed with a _squelch _on damp boggy turf. Rex heard Fives shouting out the _“go” _order before he had a chance to, which was to be expected. Their gunship was one of the last to land and Fives had the authority upon touching down first. 

Tuning into the open Company-wide channel, Rex was greeted with screams and shouts that was the familiar chaos of the battlefield. He kept giving out orders as best he could, but it was difficult enough to see five _steps _in front of him, let alone five feet. His men seemed to understand that though, because no one was asking him for a visual confirmation on anything before they did it. Once again he was glad that he’d refused to take any shinies on for this mission, worried that they would be too fresh for the difficulties that lay before them. Each and every single man now fighting beside him knew exactly what they were doing, and how Rex wanted it to be done. 

...He’d selected and trained them well. 

Skywalker was right in front of him as they streaked across the exposed landscape, bright green blaster fire strafing like rain all around them. Rex kept pace easily, accustomed to his General and adaptive to all his unique behaviors. The Jedi took pause to collect his bearings for a few moments, so Rex decided to offer a helpful suggestion. 

“The map marks a ridge at 23° North by Northwest.”

“Good! We can use it as a staging area,” Anakin said appreciatively. Though it was dark, it was easy for Rex to see the expression on his face and conclude that the general’s mind was racing. “Let’s do it.”

“Keep moving!” Rex barked over the comm - both internal and external. “We’ve gotta claim that ridge! The other battalions are counting on us!” 

“Let’s go then!” Jesse agreed. The ridge was far more sheltered than the open landscape and on higher turf, and at the moment it was relatively light-defended. Or as lightly-defended as they would probably ever get on this op. 

“Don’t stray too far,” Skywalker warned. “Enemy could have the place rigged with traps.” 

“Hardcase, that means _you,_” Rex added sternly.

“Yeah? Well I can’t even _see _the enemy!” Tup protested as Hardcase opened his mouth to deliver a witty retort. 

“That’s why they’re called the _Shadow _People, Tup,” Jesse remarked snidely. 

The ground rocked with the explosion of bright green incendiary from an enemy bomber and it flared across Rex’s HUD, temporarily blinding him as his night vision struggled to compensate. 

“Everybody take cover!” He growled. “Go go go!” 

There was screaming nearby and Rex had no visual. 

_“That’s not _right_,” _Hardcase stated over the comm. He sounded severely grossed out. 

“What’s going on over there!?” Rex questioned urgently. 

“The vegetables are trying to eat _us _in this place,” Kix explained as he went running past to deal with some wounded further up ahead. “Got teeth and tentacle vines and everything.” 

“Um, Ew.” 

Reaching the ridge was simple once they’d sent the Walkers in ahead, and around it there was the makings of a shadowy sparse forest. The Umbarans had dug trenches along the top, and Rex directed his men into them to get some rest before they pushed on. They were safe for now and there was no telling when they’d get another chance. The wounded were being seen to, the ammo restocked, and the weapons fixed if they needed it. 

Rex took his helmet off to get a feel for the planet’s atmosphere without the artificial constraints of his helmet and tasted the unwelcome tang of boggy mist mingled with burnt foliage and plasma residue from blaster discharge. It would have reminded him more of Tibrin if there had been substantial standing water; as it was he hadn’t yet seen a single pond or creek. But the odds were about the same, and the mission similar to what the 41st Elite had gone in for. 

Rex just hoped the outcome wouldn’t be the same. 

Skywalker was watching the explosions bloom in the far distance when Rex approached, and they stood in silence for a few moments before he said anything.

“General Kenobi’s battalion sir?” He asked quietly. Anakin let the macrobinoculars drop. 

“They’re pushing toward the capital,” he confirmed. “We’ll need to move out as soon as the men are ready if we’ll be of any use.” Rex nodded. They turned at the sound of running footsteps and Rex inwardly groaned when he saw that it was Dogma. 

“All platoons have reported in, General,” he said crisply and promptly. 

“Get some rest,” Anakin said kindly if a bit gruffly. Dogma looked exhausted. 

“Thank you sir, but I’m fine.” 

“General’s giving you an _order_, Dogma,” Rex explained without any room for misinterpretation as he took the few steps needed to come right in front of the younger trooper. Dogma was still slim in the shoulders and was about half an inch shorter than Rex yet; he had some more growing up to do. 

“Of... _course_, sir!” Dogma nodded, turning quickly on his heel to save face and going back to the rest of the Company. 

“He’s wound tight, but... he’s loyal,” Rex explained once he was out of earshot. 

“Kind of reminds me of you,” Anakin retorted with an amused chuckle. Rex raised an eyebrow with the slightest intake of breath as he quickly masked his annoyance. He had _never _been that unquestioning in his entire life. Having Brye as a Squad Leader in training did that to a person. 

“Maybe. ...Back in the day.” There was no point in arguing, so why bother. The two of them took a seat on a nearby rock and talked about the next leg of the campaign for about the next ten minutes, when they were interrupted by screaming and blasterfire. 

Green bolts streaked past them on all sides, and they were too busy noticing what was in front of them to realize what was behind. Luckily, Fives had.

“Enemy’s circled behind us!” He growled. He and Rex slapped on their helmets while Anakin activated his lightsaber, and they took off running. 

“Ahsoka, are you busy?” Rex asked as he patched in to the Cruiser comm.

_“Not particularly. We’ve got our surface strafers out in full force but things are quiet up here for the moment. Why?”_

“Because we’re surrounded.” 

_“I’ll see what I can do.” _

“Thanks Commander. Rex out.” 

“What was that about?” Skywalker asked as he sliced into a scorpion-looking droid and slammed his back against the opposite side of the trench.

“Called in an air strike on our location.”

“Let’s hope they’re not too busy helping Obi-wan,” Skywalker replied. _Backup plan. _

“There’s an opening to the South,” Rex countered. “We should move all the platoons off the ridge in case the air strike overshoots.” Anakin nodded approvingly. 

“Good thinking, Rex.” He raised his voice. “Everyone! Move out! Now!” They took off as quick as lightning, Rex and the General standing their ground just long enough to cover the rear as they retreated before following after. 

Once over the ridge and out of the enemy’s range, they scurried for cover and waited anxiously. 

“Head count!” Rex barked. “Sound off.” He was bombarded with Sergeants from Torrent and their extra companies reporting in. “All accounted for sir.”

“Stay low. We have to hold the position.” 

“Are you sure those bombers are coming?” Tup asked uneasily. Rex himself was having doubts; everything had gone eerily silent aside from the Umbaran cannons shooting at them from the distance. The low thrum of engines rumbled through the darkened sky, and then the entire ridge lit up like a fireworks display. 

“Good old Oddball,” Jesse sighed in relief. “Always on target.” 

“Glad we got off that ridge,” Anakin murmured reflectively. 

“Yeah,” Fives agreed. 

“That’ll teach ‘em!” Hardcase laughed. Everyone in his immediate vicinity groaned. 

“Sir, incoming,” Tup said observantly. Two bomber escorts had flown low above them with a gunship directly behind. It landed to hover a few inches above the ground as the bay doors opened, revealing the huge and bulky outline of General Pong Krell. 

Rex glanced at Skywalker and was just in time to see him swallow apprehensively, his expression a mixture of concern and dread. The Besalisk Jedi landed heavily on the peaty earth and strode toward them, coming to a stop and towering above the 6’2” Anakin by a good foot and a half. 

“Master Krell,” Skywalker began hesitantly. “My... thanks for the air support.” 

“Indeed, General Skywalker.” Krell’s voice was deep and booming, which only added to his intimidating form. “The locals have been far more trouble than anticipated.”

“...But that’s not the reason for your visit.” Maybe Rex was seeing things, but he could have sworn that Krell’s burning golden eyes flashed with the slightest satisfaction. 

“No. The Council has ordered you back to Coruscant, effective immediately.” His sharpened double canine teeth bared slightly at the end of the statement. 

“What!? Why??” Skywalker asked, disturbed. Quiet murmuring broke out among the ranks. 

“I’m afraid a request was made by the Supreme Chancellor, and the Council obliged. That is all they would tell me.”

“I- I can’t just leave my men,” Anakin protested. 

“I’ll be taking over in the interim.” Krell was impassive. He looked with apparent distaste at Rex as the Captain decided to speak.

“Don’t... worry about a thing, sir,” he assured. “We’ll have this city under Republic control by the time you’re back.” Skywalker sighed, making an effort to appear calm. 

“Master Krell, this is Rex,” he introduced. “My first in command.” Warmth crept into his tone, with a bit of pride. “You won’t find a finer or more loyal trooper anywhere.” 

“Good to hear that.” Krell’s eyes had narrowed, and Rex had blinked; the only outward sign that his general’s approval had touched him. Which it had. _Deeply. _“I wish you well, Skywalker.” Anakin nodded, shrugging off the large hand of the older Jedi as he approached the gunship. He made eye contact with Rex as it lifted off, his sharp blue gaze troubled. 

Rex inhaled slightly, bracing himself before walking the few steps toward Krell. 

“Your reputation precedes you General,” he began cordially. “It’s... an honor to be serving you.” Krell lifted his chin ever so slightly, and Rex got the impression it was to establish his superiority. A feeling of foreboding washed over him and only intensified when the Desalisk spoke. 

“I find it... very interesting, Captain, that you are able to recognize the value of honor. For a clone.” Of all the things he had been expecting... Rex just stared at him incredulously. “Stand at attention when I am addressing you,” Krell snapped. 

Rex felt his spine straighten and his shoulders throw themselves back as his eyes bolted directly in front of him without consciously ever thinking about doing any of it, and the ingrained response made him oddly resentful. He gritted his teeth and allowed his gaze to stray slightly toward Krell’s location. Every other trooper in the area had done the same, and those without their helmets on looked impassive but to the trained eye were obviously stunned. 

“Your flattery is duly noted, but will not be rewarded.” _I was trying to be polite. Believe me, you don’t deserve any undue praise. _“There’s a reason my command is so effective, and it’s because I do things by the book.” Fives’ jaw clenched as Krell passed by him. “That includes protocol. Have all platoons move out immediately. That is all.” 

He left, and when they were allowed they all dropped their ramrod positions. Fives just looked at him with a disgusted look on his face that Rex was sure he was reciprocating. He let slip an exasperated sigh, mentally groaning at what lay ahead of them. 

It was going to be a long campaign.


	51. The Darkness Within II

Managing to find a path through the nocturnal jungle of Umbara was easier than it should have been, and Rex wasn’t too keen on advancing down it. But General Krell had insisted, and three hours at press pace later they were still on it making a steady approach to the capital city. Everything ached. Rex wanted nothing more than to catch even a few minutes’ sleep, but their new CO wasn’t letting up. The men had fallen behind. Krell glanced over his upper shoulder with a scowl. 

“Quicken that pace battalion!” He barked. “This isn’t some training course on Kamino!” The slight stung. Did he know that people actually _died _during some of those exercises? Rex got the idea he wouldn’t care even if he did. 

“The new General has a way with words,” Fives muttered sourly. It was the first thing he’d said directly to Rex and Rex alone since the op had begun.

“He’s just trying to keep us on schedule,” Rex defended unenthusiastically. 

“By raising everyone’s ire?” That didn’t sound like Fives; there was something else going on. 

“Either way, he’s in charge and we’ve got a job to do. Just treat him with respect-” the word left a bad taste in his mouth- “and we’ll all get along fine.” Fives snorted derisively. He suddenly stiffened, hand going out to tap Rex’s arm and gently bar his way. 

“Do you see that?” He asked uneasily with a point. Two creatures glowing a sickly bioluminescent green we’re flying toward them. 

“Yeah,” Rex sighed as he pulled a blaster. Fives did the same. He raised his voice so that the troopers in the immediate vicinity would hear. “Ready your weapons!” The creatures came in fast and low, each grabbing a trooper and flying off. Blue blasterfire erupted all around them, causing them to dodge wildly.

Movement from behind caught Rex’s attention, and he almost dropped his blaster as Krell launched himself into the air to land on one of the creatures’ backs and use his ridiculously strong arms to break its wings. It abruptly dropped its prey. Taking out his two dual-bladed lightsabers, Krell stabbed it in the head and then whipped around to catch the second one as it flew by. Both were soon dead.

“Anyone else want to stop and play with the animals?” Krell asked crossly, stomping hard on the second one’s head, effectively delivering the death blow. There was a sickening _crunch_ that made Rex’s stomach churn as the skull caved in. Krell was looking directly at him. “I didn’t think so. Now keep moving.” 

Rex couldn’t see Fives’ face behind his helmet, but he knew the expression he was being given all the same. 

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

About nine hours later Kix came up on Rex’s right. Fives had fallen slightly behind, his breathing rasping slightly through his external amplifier, his walk unsteady and each footfall heavy. 

“Sir, we’ve been keeping this pace for twelve hours now,” Kix sighed tiredly. His shoulders were slumped and his grip on his blaster was loose. “Men are getting worn down. We need to rest.” Rex nodded, quickening his step - the effort it took to do so being almost more than he could manage - to catch up with Krell. 

“General Krell? The top of this ridge would be a good place to make camp,” Rex suggested. He wasn’t hopeful. 

“The men don’t need rest,” he replied tersely. “They need the resolve to complete the task at hand.” Not for the first time, Rex was glad his helmet hid his face. Although he wasn’t sure how much good it did with a Jedi, even if Skywalker had once told him that they had to know the person before they could properly sense their emotional changes. Krell appeared not to notice his disgust and frustration as it blossomed unwelcomely in his chest and made him grit his teeth. He decided to try again.

“But sir-”

“CT-7567, are you reading me?” Krell snapped. He’d shoved his chin high into the air with self-importance. The appearance of his birth number in the conversation was enough to stop Rex in his carefully planned argument on its own. 

“Eh-excuse me, sir?” He stuttered. His face was burning with embarrassment as scattered murmuring - mostly shocked but some of it outraged - broke out over the internal comm where Krell couldn’t hear it. Krell came to a halt.

“I asked you a _question_, CT-7567. Do you understand the need to adhere to my strategy?” That number again. It had never bothered him before, but Rex suddenly hated it like he’d never hated anything else in his entire life. 

_I’m not a product. I’m a being. _

“Sir,” Rex began as he struggled to retain his composure, “the terrain is extremely hostile. And despite the difficulty of the conditions, the battalion _is _making good time. The men just- need a little break.” 

“Captain, do I need to remind you of this battalion’s strategic mission in conquering this planet?” Krell asked. He had turned on Rex and was leaning down, making a point to invade his personal space. 

“Look back.” Rex did it purely on instinctual fear for his own safety before turning back round. “See those platoons? Their mission is to take the city and to take it swiftly. Time and rest are luxuries the Republic cannot afford. _We _are the key to this invasion.” He was getting closer and closer to Rex’s face, pointed teeth snapping with each consonant mere inches from his t-slit. Rex ground his teeth, repressing the urge to bite the Desalisk’s finger right off of one of his four hands each time it jabbed with angry emphasis near his chest. 

“If we fail, everyone fails. Do you understand this?” Krell raised his voice. “Do _all _of you understand this!?” And with that he turned on his heel and began walking again. Rex glanced behind him to see his men staring at him. They gave the slightest of nods, so he nodded back. They started marching again too. Brye was swearing his head off over the internal comm, using choice language from several different dialects that Ahsoka would never be allowed to hear until she was grown. He was two seconds away from ripping all four of Krell’s arms from his body for publicly humiliating his Squad Brother like that, and the colorful description of how he wanted to do it made Rex feel a bit better. 

Slightly. 

It wasn’t long before they came upon a road, well-lit and eerily empty. They scouted the area briefly before Rex made his way back to Krell, helmet off after taking a well-needed swig of water. 

“Sir, we’re ready to move our forward platoons in for a surgical strike on the city’s defenses,” he stated. For once he had something Krell would want to hear. The Desalisk looked at him indifferently.

“There won’t be any need, Captain.” 

“Sir??” 

“All platoons will execute a forward assault on the main route to the city,” he explained. It sounded so simple. _Suicide Run. _

“Sir, General Skywalker’s plan was to surprise them with multiple attacks,” Rex protested. He was hoping that, seeing as Anakin Skywalker was a fellow Jedi, it might carry more weight than anything Rex would say. “If we come in from the main route, they’re likely to engage us in a full-frontal assault!” _Suicide Run. That’s what this is. _

“Change of plans, Captain.” A finite tone. “_I’m _in command now.” _He’s sending us in to die. _

“With- with _all _due respect, General... we- _don’t know _what we’re up against. I think-” _Mistake. Why did I say that? _“-It might be wiser to think first.” _I’m just making it worse. Why is this not coming out right?_

_Stress. _

“Are you questioning my _order!?_” Krell boomed. He’d turned on Rex again, towering over him purposefully. He then activated the holo-projector on his wrist. “This battalion _will _take the main road. _Straight _to the capital. You will _not _stop, and you will _not _turn back, regardless of resistance you will meet.” The holo disappeared. 

“We will attack them with _all_ our troops, not some- _sneak attack _with a few men. That is my _order_, and you will follow it _explicitly._ Do I make myself _clear, CT-7567!?_” He was close enough that Rex could feel the light droplets of spit fly against his face. 

_We’re nothing to him but cannon fodder. _

“Yes... General.” Rex lowered his head in submission, internally wanting to break Krell’s nose. He found himself saluting, at attention. 

_What’s wrong with me? Why can’t- why can’t I- can’t I do this?_

_Because that would be insubordination. _

_At the cost of my men. Possibly my life as well. _

_Good Soldiers Follow Orders. _

Krell had turned away with a triumphant expression on his face. 

“Then engage!” 

Rex walked past him, sliding his helmet on because he couldn’t even meet his brothers’ gazes due to his shame. 

They began marching straight up the eerily-uninteresting road. 

“So...” Tup asked hesitantly after a long while. Everyone was becoming uneasy. “Why aren’t we sticking to the original plan by probing the city’s defenses first?” 

“We can do this,” Hardcase encouraged confidently. It was hard to tell if the enthusiasm was also real. “Let’s take ‘em.” 

“Leave it to Hardcase to dive in headfirst,” Jesse laughed weakly. 

“The General’s new plan is reckless,” Fives voiced crossly. 

“You ever think that maybe he knows what he’s doing?” Dogma countered irritatedly.

“I know _you _think this is a bad idea,” Fives growled, quickening his pace to end up directly behind Rex. 

“I... raised my objection to General Krell’s plan but he didn’t agree,” Rex replied unhappily. _Should have fought harder. Why didn’t I? _

_Soldiers don’t question the commands of their superiors. Clone troopers especially. We were built to obey. _

_...But aren’t we people too?_

“So... this is it.” A lame ending and an even lamer excuse. 

“What if he’s wrong?” Fives scoffed. “Then what?” The tone again. He was only using it with Rex. _Something to ask about later._

“This isn’t the time for a debate,” Rex hissed. “We have to stay alert.” 

“It’s too quiet out there,” Tup said uneasily. He was voicing all their concerns as he looked out over the deserted road ahead of them. Not five minutes later two very loud explosions followed by the screaming of the victims occurred, and instinctually they all flattened out on the ground. 

“Mines!” Fives shouted. Rex went into high alert. 

“Nobody Move!” He ordered. Fives coughed as debris and... _other _things rained down on them. Slowly, Rex got to his feet and directed the two rear scouts to check on their brothers. 

“Oz is down,” Ailen sighed. A few moments later Denal answered. 

“...So is Ringo.” 

“Can you sweep ‘em?” Rex asked Fives subduedly. Fives nodded, taking out a scanner and assuming the lead. Bright blue spots shone out as the beam passed over. 

“There are more over here,” Fives muttered. “Looks like the whole road’s been booby-trapped. Everyone, _watch your step._” Rex was following directly behind with the rest of the Old Guard in tow. Farther down their lineup, a dull whine started out quiet and quickly became deafening as a cannon blast tore a large chunk out of the path. 

_Your instincts were sound. Should have taken a stand. _

_It’s against my training._

_Sounds more like programming. _

_We’re not droids. _

_Then start acting like it. _

“We’re completely exposed!” Tup shouted. Umbarans were emerging from the underbrush on all sides, overwhelming in both firepower and sheer strength in numbers. 

“Hold your ground!” Rex barked. He’d found himself back to back with Fives, both of them with a pistol in each hand just firing for all they were worth. 

“You want a piece of this!?” Hardcase challenged as he swung his repeating blaster around and cut down about ten Umbarans all at once. Another impact round shattered into their midst. 

“I think Hardcase made ‘em mad,” Brye growled as Jesse came in for a sweep with his rifle nearby. The two Sergeants who never saw eye to eye were closer than conjoined twins when it counted. Tup fended off an Umbaran who tried to put him into a headlock, swinging him over his shoulders and then firing point blank into his translucent viewplate helmet without a second thought. More impact rounds all around them. 

“We’re blown!” Denal yelped. 

“Umbarans are advancing!” Fives shouted. 

“Make ‘em eat heat!” Hardcase bellowed. Rex stood in the middle of this hurricane, dirt, shrapnel, and gore flying through the air around him as green bolts wizzed past his head. He had a pistol in each hand firing blindly, just cutting them down as best he could. His mind was racing. 

_Idiot. _

“They’re coming from all directions!” Dogma panted. 

_Coward._

“We don’t have any cover!” Fives barked. 

_Do something. _

“We need to pull back,” Rex finally managed to say. It was like throwing himself against a reinforced glass wall, able to see the other side but unable to reach it. “Get them to follow us. If we can draw them out, we can see them. If we can see them, we can hit them.” 

_Swing at the wall. _

_Crack. _

“All squads, _PULL BACK NOW!!!” _

_Swing. _

_Crack. _

_He was back in the turbolift. _

“This can’t be good,” Ailen muttered. It was the first time Rex had ever willingly given the retreat order without being told to do it by their commanding officer. 

They took off running down the road, the Umbarans giving chase. They were running toward reinforcements; the main contingency of their attack force. 

“Here they come!” Fives shouted hoarsely as they took up new positions in a slightly more fortified area. At least there was scant cover and the enemy was only attacking on one side. 

“Stand fast,” Rex growled. “Hit ‘em with everything you’ve got.” _If we die, we take as many of them out with us. _

Thick blue blasterfire coated the area from behind them, more troopers coming to support. 

“Where you goin’?” Hardcase laughed triumphantly as the Umbarans began falling back. “Get back here!”

“Hardcase, _shut up!” _Denal snapped. “We don’t want them to come back!” 

“They’re falling back!” Fives stated. Relieved exhaustion reverberated through his voice, and Rex allowed himself to feel some of the enthusiasm. The next voice that spoke made him cringe. 

“CT-7567, do you have a malfunction in your design?” Krell asked maliciously, shoulder-checking Fives as he stalked toward him and knocking the ARC off-balance. “You’ve pulled our forces back from taking the capital city! As such, the enemy now has control of this route! This entire operation is now compromised, because of _your-” _a sharp jab into Rex’s chest with his finger- “_failure!”_ Another jab. Rex actually felt his ribs crack, they were so brutally strong. Fives, who had been angrily watching the exchange while Jesse and Ailen physically restrained Brye in the background, started violently when Krell touched his commanding officer. 

“General Krell,” Fives began, voice so acidic it could have melted durasteel, “In case you haven’t _noticed, _Captain Rex just _saved _this platoon. Surely you won’t _fail _to recognize _that._” Krell had turned toward Fives, a new target for his abuse presenting itself. 

“ARC-5555,” he said in a quiet and deathly voice as a blade of pure green energy sprang to life directly next to Fives’ helmet, “Stand. Down.” 

“Sir yes sir,” Fives spat. 

_He threatened one of our own. _

_He’s the commanding officer. _

_No one harms my brothers._

_Not on my watch. _

_Another swing at the wall. _

_Another crack. _

Rex’s voice was low and serious. 

“Sir, if I may address your _accusation,_ I followed your orders, even in the face of a plan that was, in _my opinion, severely flawed. _A plan that cost us _men!”_ He didn’t know why he’d decided to take his helmet off, but he did. “_Not _clones! _MEN!” _There was something stirring in the pit of his stomach that rose up into his chest and burst free, a raw independent power that he’d never felt before that moment that just completely took him over. And it was embedded deeply into his next words, which throbbed with it and _demanded _he be heard even though his volume was low and carefully regulated. 

“As sure as it is my duty to remain loyal to your command, I also have another duty. To protect those men.” Krell swept his gaze over Torrent Company, all harshness and brazen impatience. He suddenly closed his eyes hard with a sigh, deactivating his lightsaber before opening them again and looking at him. 

“You have a spark of tenacity Captain,” Krell conceded somewhat subduedly. It was obvious he hadn’t expected any backlash. “I will give you that. ...I know that I don’t command like the Jedi you’re used to serving...” a little bit of contempt crept into his voice.... “certainly not like General Skywalker. But I have my way. It may be difficult, but these are difficult times, and it’s proven effective.” 

Krell observed him from his lofty lifted gaze, considering something. 

“I suppose your loyalty to your men is to be commended. They seem to admire this. That’s important to an effective commander. ...All right, _Captain Rex_. Your opinion has been noted. Dismissed.” 

“I think he almost complimented you,” Fives murmured dumbfoundedly when Krell was out of earshot. The men were all looking at him, the helmets impassive but the body language easy to interpret as awestruck. 

“It’s hard to tell,” Rex muttered with a sigh. His outburst had left him scared. That... that _raw emotion _that had exploded from him had come from seemingly nowhere, and he hadn’t known he’d been capable of something like that. 

He didn’t have much to time dwell on it, though. Impact rounds exploded nearby, green blasterfire erupting from an elevated position. 

“Ambush!” Jesse exclaimed. 

“The Umbarans must have regrouped for a counter-attack,” Rex surmised tiredly. “We must hold this position!”

“You think _General_ Krell still intends to take the Capital using _this _strategy?” Fives asked sourly. 

“I don’t know. I’ll get back to you on that if we survive this battle!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have any of you played Detroit Become Human? If not, it’s a choice-based game where you play as three different protagonists, all Androids set in a future time period, as one (Connor) hunts Deviants - Androids that have malfunctioning programming - another (Kara) tries to escape the growing conflict with humans, and the other (Markus) leads the revolution. I asked this because when I mention Rex beating against that glass wall, I picture the Androids as they decide to ignore their programming and become Deviant.
> 
> I also liked the tie-in to what happened in the turbolift way back at the beginning of this book. 
> 
> ...I bet you weren’t expecting that stupid elevator to be important, were you? 


	52. Crisis of Core Belief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You will notice that the writing style has changed. This is because there was a 1.5 year hiatus between chapter 51 and 52, due to a period of high stress and inconsistent pockets of depression. I originally posted this fic on Wattpad, and by the point I was writing this chapter the fandom's interest was dying. No one was commenting or voting, just stopping by to view and not leave feedback, and the views were also much lower. The announcement for season 7 and its premier sparked some interest back into this story for me, but to be quite honest I've lost the motivation to write this. I simply want to finish it for the fans, and I intend to do just that. The quality will be a bit lower because I just can't summon the energy, I'm afraid, but I'll die before leaving this unfinished.

After being forced to abandon the main road - something Rex was actually _happy _for - Krell had ordered them deeper into the subterranean jungle. With the Umbarans on their heels their best chance was to lose them in the foliage, but of course these people knew what they were doing and where they were going. Torrent Company and the extra help from other 501st companies were firing blind in unfamiliar territory. 

Rex looked up at the sound of heavy thrumming, like a large chortling bird, as it steadily drew nearer at a suggestive speed. He groaned when his suspicions were confirmed, and everyone threw themselves into the dirt as heavy strafing fire from Umbaran starfighters peppered the ground around them. 

Rex fired several shots point-blank against the cockpit which was really nothing more than a force field bubble protecting an exposed pilot. Each round deflected harmlessly off the side and Rex growled in frustration. Ray-shielded. Of course. 

Life was never simple. Their life, anyway. 

He ducked against a tree as the ship swiped the ground and bashed some of his men into the dirt, wincing in the privacy of his helmet.

“We have _got _to move before those fighters come back,” he muttered through grit teeth to no one in particular, looking up and across the small clearing they were hiding on the edge of. Fives’ figure was just barely visible through the smoke and mist.

“Rex, Rex! Over here!” Kix was kneeling on the ground as he tried to tend to the wounded, Fives guarding him. 

“Jesse, right flank. Dogma, left flank!” 

“Rex, we have problems over here!” Brye called over the comm. 

“Where exactly _are _you!?”

“Um... yeah, that’s the problem...”

“Ailen, Denal. Go find him and his men. We can’t afford to get separated in this place.”

Krell was speaking over Holo with Kenobi when Rex finally got over to Kix and Fives’ position, and it made his blood boil that he hadn’t been called over to join the conversation. With Skywalker he didn’t have to; it was assumed he was welcome, and the same went for Kenobi. That was why the younger Jedi didn’t so much as blink when Rex appeared in his field of vision but Krell cast him a disapproving look. 

They had been talking about a nearby airbase, and when the conversation was over Krell stalked off with a barked order about finding the airbase coordinates so they could get underway.

“Finally, something’s happening in our favor,” Jesse sighed. “The sooner we get those ships out of commission the better.” 

——————

“I spoke too soon,” Jesse growled as they plodded through the dense foliage and into an exceedingly narrow gorge that necessitated they walk through in single file.

“You should have been more adamant about finding a route, _any route_, that didn’t take us through the gorge,” Fives muttered. 

“What, and risk him pulling a lightsaber on me like he did you?” Rex retorted exasperatedly. “No thank you. This mission is already cursed. Really wanna add losing your commanding officer to the mess?”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Dogma interjected loyally. He shrank back into his armor as various choice sentences were flung back at him over the comm channel. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Leave the rookie alone guys,” Hardcase countered. “We were all that naive once.” 

“Yeah, it’s not Dogma’s fault that Krell is a _war hero_,” Fives needled. Rex froze in his tracks, going eerily still and silent.

“Fives, a word?” He said quietly. Sensing he’d overstepped a boundary line Fives slunk forward as they changed to a one on one frequency. “What was that?”

“What was what, _sir?_” 

“You’ve been sniping at me ever since we got here. Just tell me what it is I did wrong.”

“Nothing.”

“...Nothing.” Rex knew his brother better than that. “So it was something I _didn’t _do.”

“You have a great talent for observation, Captain.” 

“Fives.”

“You...” the ARC sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. “I’m not coping well, Rex. Not since Echo... it’s just, every time I see you I’m reminded he’s not here...”

“...Right.” Rex coughed as he softened at the admission. “The last time you saw me, Echo was alive. He had my handprint on his armor. And now he’s gone.” 

“Yeah.” 

“The Old Guard miss you, Fives. Echo may not be here anymore, but you still have brothers who love and worry about you. When this is over, _stay_. Please.”

“I’ll- I’ll consider it.” They both cleared their throats as the comm beeped and they switched back to the main one. “What’s up, Jesse?”

“Thought you’d want to be told sir, but...” Jesse pointed at the sky, where the flying stingrays were rapidly squeaking off into the distance.

“They look... spooked,” Fives observed uneasily, helmet tilting toward Rex in a classical movement of nervous confirmation. 

It was then that the ground gave an ominous rumble and a giant centipede-like troop carrier burst from the soil, tall and massive and not in the slightest bit terrifying. It had so many legs trying to break them was useless, and its long body had laser turrets all along the top portion. Blaster fire bounced harmlessly off of the ray shields protecting it. In short, it was the stuff of nightmares. Many men cursed, Rex among them, as they dove for cover in the narrow space and found that there was none. 

Even the tiny walkers did no damage, and soon there was a second one joining the confusion. 

...Make that three. 

“Rex, we need rocket launchers!” Five shouted over the comm. “Now!”

“Way ahead of you!” Rex retorted, running down the hill with several rocket launcher-wielding soldiers in tow. “You lot, get those launchers down there!” 

Fives took a second to line up his shot once he’d got what he had been asking for and fired point blank against the head of the transport. It broke through the glass easily and set off a chain reaction down the entire body as the turrets were hit by the heat, their ammunition lighting up as well. The transport reared back and upward before collapsing onto its side, sending dust and smoke billowing thickly into the air to the point that Rex noted his helmet’s automatic filtration feature had activated.

“That was close,” Hardcase wheezed as Fives hauled him over the remains.

“Move it trooper,” Fives chastised good-naturedly. 

“We need to regroup,” Rex murmured decisively. “One down, two to go. Strength in numbers.” 

“And bigger targets.”

“Lesser of two evils, Fives. We don’t have a lot of options right now.” 

“And whose fault is that?”

“You’re preaching to the choir, buddy.” 

They took up residence in a thick stand of huge trees, the remaining two transports circling them menacingly but unable to break through, as they prepped detonators and brought up more rocket launchers. The only good thing about the bottleneck of the gorge was that it was even more difficult for those centipedes to move than foot soldiers. Of course, the plan called for them to taunt the things once they had visual...

Rex really didn’t like this plan but didn’t have a better one. It had Hardcase written all over it in Crayon. 

As the detonators went off the two centipedes reared back and tangled over each other, providing the perfect opportunity for the rocket launchers to do their stuff. The men ran for cover, Rex bringing up the rear, and he cried out in surprise as he was hit back the sheer force of heat and energy and flung high over the rest of the men into the dirt. 

“Rex!” Jesse called, horrified. 

“Good job,” Rex mumbled as he heaved himself to his feet. Everything hurt. “Let’s move out.”

It escaped absolutely no one’s notice that he was trying hard not to limp on his left side and Fives came up to walk step for step beside him in case he needed something to brace against due to the foggy, rough terrain. 

And as if that weren’t enough, a few minutes later massive tanks on tri-stilted legs fired high-energy proton blasts at them, tearing into the landscape and cutting huge swathes away with a single bright green blast even as they incinerated the men. 

_“Captain, continue your attack!” _Krell barked over the comm. Rex groaned, pausing in the retreat to reply.

“Sir, we’re overpowered. We need reinforcements-“

_“The rest of the battalion is holding the entrance to the gorge, Captain. They’re guarding it so _your _troops can break through to the airbase!”_

“But- sir, we can’t possibly-“

_“You must stand your ground, do you read me? Captain, are you listening!? Do not retreat!”_

Rex simply stared at his wristcomm for a few moments as bright blue electricity exploded through the air and some of his men got caught in the blast, breathing heavily as their screams washed over him like a tidal wave. 

They would die, and for what? Rex was smart enough to know his men would get the job done. Even if it cost them as many men as it did on Teth, the few survivors would prevail. But that was that. All those deaths, he’d painted the tallys on his new armor only weeks ago. Every single one, a reminder whenever he looked at his armor plating, that their sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.

Teth was different from Umbara. On Teth, Skywalker had led them in and had had to leave to rescue Rotta the baby hut. As Skywalker hated huts, it was obvious he would rather have been with the men. The entire thing had been a trap, anyway. They’d walked in and sprung it. Kenobi had come along to rescue what was left of them. Now, on Umbara, Krell walked into suicide situations with both eyes open. He led from a cozy little hilltop far from the fighting and was apathetic toward the needs of his men, and Kenobi was far away taking the capital. 

And in both cases, Rex was caught between his Jedi and his brothers. If he hadn’t enjoyed it the first time, he was actively hating it now. 

The rocket launchers were useless. Kix was screaming for help to save their men, and everything was in a state of abject panic. Rex’s world was on fire, and he had no idea where the fire extinguisher had got off to. He staked all of his hopes, and even his position of command, on the success of Fives and Hardcase to steal the Umbarans’ own fighters and use them against their tanks. 

They had a fight on their hands, putting out a good diversion, and Rex tasted blood as he bit his tongue when the force of a blast knocked him against the trunk of a tree. He staggered back to his feet and ran again, dodging fire, toward his men. 

He was responsible for them, and right now he was useless. 

Faith in survival was dwindling fast, and then he heard the most bittersweet words he’d ever had the privilege of hearing.

_Clear out, Captain. _

Two fighters tore across the sky, their flight patterns uneven, and green heat rained down on the tanks. Rex, along with the rest of the men, ran for their lives to more sheltered ground and in general anywhere the tanks weren’t. Hardcase was laughing over the comm, Fives enjoying himself as well it seemed, as they avoided return fire and decimated their targets one by one. 

The men began cheering as the last one was destroyed, and it was a matter of what seemed like hazy minutes before they were taking the airbase. The euphoria was not to last, however, as Krell’s voice cut through the positive atmosphere. 

“Captain, what is our situation?” He asked sharply.

“General, we have taken the base and cut off enemy supply lines to the capital,” Rex replied promptly, biting down on the rising bile in his throat as he laid eyes on the Jedi. Krell raised his head and nodded.

“Luck has smiled on you today, Captain,” he replied condescendingly. “Consider yourself... fortunate.”

“It wasn’t all _luck, _sir,” Rex retorted, anger held tightly in check as he stepped forward into the man’s personal space and glared up at him. “A lot of men _died _to take this base.”

“Ah, the price for such a victory. Perhaps someday, you’ll realize this.” Rex’s jaw and fingers clenched, and he quit breathing altogether. He didn’t trust himself in that moment to not launch himself at his commanding officer as the screams of the battlefield echoed in his mind. Krell turned his back and strode away. “Dismissed.”

“_He’s _the one that’ll never realize,” Fives spat as he came up on Rex’s right side. They both glared after the Jedi’s retreating form for a few moments before they let out a concurrent, collective sigh and went back to work. The campaign was only just heating up.


	53. Before the Dawn

Standing up for his men when they wanted to take enemy fighters up to destroy the command vessels up in space was hard enough as is, let alone when Fives was getting progressively more and more upset with him on one side and Krell was breathing fire down his neck on the other. When Fives went ahead and did what he wanted anyway, it made his life infinitely more difficult. 

Not that that stopped Rex from covering for them with Krell, something that was infinitely more risky than it should have been, made even more so when he caught Dogma and a very reluctant Tup on their way to tell Krell what was going on. Sending them packing was easy; after all, he was their commanding officer, and Tup hadn’t wanted to go anyway. 

But when they got back... 

Losing Hardcase was... difficult. They hadn’t lost anyone from the Old Guard since Echo. Learning that Fives was refusing to let him take the blame for what happened made things all the worse. 

_“Let me be clear about the punishment for treason committed by ARC Trooper 5555 and CT-5597,” Krell growled. He seemed to be enjoying what he was about to say as he leaned in toward Rex. “They will be court-martialed. They will be found guilty. And they _will _be _executed!_” He turned away. “Make no mistake. For crossing me, you will pay the price.”_

“He said _what!?_” Brye exclaimed, falling off of the top bunk he had been sitting on with the loud thud to the floor. The men, predictably, hadn’t taken the news well when Tup had told them about Hardcase. They were taking what was happening to Fives and Jesse even worse. “But- but he can’t do that!”

“He can, and he did,” Dogma retorted, crossing his arms. “They disobeyed orders.”

“Shut up, Dogma,” Ailen snapped. Dogma opened his mouth to reply before catching sight of Denal, who looked like he was just waiting for an excuse to punch him. He wisely snapped his mouth closed and refrained from rising to the bait. 

“We have to do something,” Kix muttered, pacing. Rex hung his head. 

“I’ve tried,” he sighed. “I’ve talked, bartered, and tried persuading Krell. I... even resorted to begging. Nothing worked. And if we don’t do this by the book, we’ll _all _end up getting executed.”

“Maybe we should,” Tup suggested. This brought everyone in the room up short. “I mean, it’ll be a statement. Showcase cruelty of commanding officers over their men.”

“The Senate and the Jedi Council, despite both pretending to care about what happens to us, don’t,” Rex retorted sourly. “Believe me. I know. I’ve been to both the Senate building and the Temple often enough to figure that out. They look at me, at our brothers, like we’re not there until they need something. Krell wouldn’t receive punishment for anything, even if Skywalker and Kenobi kicked up a fuss and lodged a complaint. Our deaths would accomplish nothing.”

“There’s really nothing we can do?” Tup asked. His looked so young, so shocked at hearing the truth of the galaxy. “But...” 

“Come on vod’ika, let’s go get some caf,” Denal murmured brokenly. Ailen draped his arm over his younger brother’s shoulders and together they led Tup from the room. Rex watched them go, saw the defeated expressions on the rest of the Old Guard’s faces. His left hand clenched involuntarily at his side.


	54. Soul in Shadows

Rex was, in a Summative word, numb. There was nothing he could do for Fives and Jesse despite his best efforts, and everything was unraveling around him. Picking the men for the execution was- 

He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Dogma took charge, too interested in obeying orders to worry about brotherly loyalty. 

The guns clicked as the rounds loaded.

_This is wrong. And we all know it. The general is making a mistake, and he needs to be called on it. No clone should have to go out this way! We are loyal soldiers, we follow orders. But we are _not _a bunch of unthinking droids! We are _men! _We must be trusted to make the right decisions, especially when the orders we are given are wrong. _

_Fire! _

Everything had been in a sort of haze. Rex had been drowning in guilt and pain, on self-loathing at betraying his brothers. The volley of blaster fire snapped him out of a deep well of recriminating introspection, and he drew in a sharp breath as the rifles lowered. Not a single shot hit the intended targets; the wall was littered with smoking spray. Dogma was trembling with shock.

“What- what happened!?” He exclaimed as the rifles clattered to the ground.

“They’re doing the right thing, Dogma,” Rex said quietly. _Wish I had the strength to do it first_. “Because if _this _is how soldiers are rewarded for heroic actions, then one day every man in this battalion might face a similar fate.” He turned sharply on his heel and walked away. “Take off their binders.” 

“No, we have our orders!” Dogma protested. “We have to go through with it!”

“Good luck finding anyone to do it,” Rex growled. There was a pause before he added, “Oh, and Dogma?”

“S- sir?”

“Find a new battalion to transfer to. Any one you pick, I’ll sign off. Because there’s no way anyone in Torrent Company will trust you to watch their back after this.” 

They were summoned shortly after to Krell, the both of them, and the turbolift was awkwardly silent. The command center was eerily quiet as the other troopers seemed to be holding their breath, and Krell turned slowly before bending down so that his face was right next to Rex’s. Hot, rancid breath wafted across his face.

“I ordered those clones destroyed!” Krell snapped, tone low and dangerous. “You are making a mistake by crossing me, _clone_.” 

“It’s _Captain_, sir,” Rex replied just as quietly, just as dangerously. He leaned forward slightly and to avoid their noses bumping Krell was forced to withdraw slightly backward. He growled, low in his throat, and his sharp teeth bared. 

It was a toss-up as to what would have happened had that transmission not come in, but Rex knew it wouldn’t have ended well. 

The dark and misty atmosphere which had seemed so cold and foreboding only a day before was now welcome as it allowed Rex an excuse to wear his helmet and be alone with his thoughts. None of the men were in any form of chatty mood, so the only thing he had to do was give out instructions and then cut off his comm until he needed it. 

When blue blasterfire lit up the darkened landscape, the men reacted admirably. Despite the panic of blind target location, they dealt with things in a logical manner. Mortars exploded on both sides, providing each with a location. 

“Anyone have a visual?” Rex asked tersely over the comm. 

“Negative, too dark,” Tup muttered. He tensed. “No, wait. I see them. Disguised as clones, all right.” 

Both sides began advancing, but things felt... off. Rex decided to circle around to the flank, to see from a different angle. Things were just too... familiar, in a way that formed an icy ball of dread in the pit of his stomach. Tup began calling for him over the comm, but he barely heard him as he spotted a fallen enemy soldier. 

The man’s helmet had slid off slightly, revealing an eerily familiar jawline, and with ragged breaths Rex crept forward. The helmet fell from his fingers when he revealed the lifeless face of one of his brothers. 

“What?” He whispered, horrified. 

Sheer panic overtook him as he ran unheedingly into the blasting zone, through his own ranks, and toward the lines of the 212th. He was trusting his familiar armor to be a clue to the other side, even as he opened his comm channel to a wider GAR frequency to hopefully reach the 212th’s side. 

“Everyone, stop firing! We’re shooting our own men! They’re not Umbarans, they’re clones! Take off your helmets, show them you’re not the enemy!” Cool, misty air slapped him in the face as Rex cast his helmet into the dirt and ran straight for the 212th. “They’re clones! Everyone, stop firing! Cease fire! They’re not Umbarans, _they’re clones!_” 

In his panic-fueled adrenaline charge, Rex let his momentum carry him forward as he tackled one of Cody’s men to the ground. 

“What the-“

Rex tore off the man’s helmet, wincing at the stunned horror and recognition he saw in those eyes, and held him tightly as he showed the 501st and the 212th that they were brothers. 

“We’re clones! We’re all clones!” 

Fire halted abruptly, men on both sides pulling off their helmets with sickened expressions as they slowly lined up to face each other. Brother to brother. Rex let the man go, and they both fell to the ground as he dropped his head into his hands and stifled a sob. 

“What have we done...” 

——————————

“I’ve found the platoon leader,” Kix said, running up. “It’s... Waxer. He’s still alive.” Rex took a deep breath as he braced for the worst; Kid’s expression suggested he wouldn’t be for long. They walked quickly through the undergrowth; he was leaning against a tree, and when Rex gently pulled his helmet off his breath was pained and labored.

“Waxer... tell me, who gave you the orders to attack us.”

“It- it was g-general Krell. He sent us to these coordinates- to stop the enemy. We thought... they were wearing our armor... but- it was- it was-“ tears began to stream down his face as he but the last word out and exhaled his last breath. “You...” 

“Waxer...” Rex sighed as angry fire burned in his chest. It did wonders to overwhelm his shame and guilt, giving him purpose and a target. “Was Boil in this platoon?” He asked quietly. Farro, one of the 212th, shook his head as he closed his eyes tightly. 

“What happened, sir?” He whispered brokenly. “Why- why did...” 

“I intend to find that out.” 

There was no rulebook for what to do next. No code of conduct. So Rex took a page from Skywalker’s modus operandi.

He proposed treason.

Even with the 212th helping them, fighting Krell and his twin dual-bladed lightsabers was a nightmare. Four arms, four blades. He was like an organic Grievous, but almost worse. He could harness the Force, and he used it with deadly ability. Rex had never fought a Jedi before aside from Ahsoka’s training sessions, and Ventress had easily overpowered him. He’d never been unfortunate enough to face Dooku. 

The broken glass, the impossible fall. The haze of blue light exploding over the airfield. None of it mattered to Krell as he fled. 

“Hold it right there!” Red and the rest of the Old Guard cruised to a halt, encircling Dogma as he pointed a blaster squarely at Rex’s chest.

“Lower your weapon, Dogma,” he said calmly. Dogma’s hand shook, his eyes wild and conflicted. 

“I- I can’t do that, sir!”

“That’s an _order!_” 

“But- it’s my duty,” Dogma panted desperately. “You’re all traitors!” Rex sighed, holstering 

one of his pistols and pulling off his helmet.

“I used to think being a good soldier meant doing everything they told you,” he murmured tiredly. “It’s how they engineered us. But we’re not droids, and we’re not programmed. You have to learn to make your _own _decisions.”

“Dogma, don’t do it,” Tup warned. Everyone was prepared to shoot, and realizing he was outnumbered Dogma sighed and lowered his weapon. Brye and Ailen immediately moved to tackle him to the ground.

“Take him to the Brig,” Rex instructed as he slid his helmet back on and looked to the forest. “Troopers, don’t let general Krell escape!” 

Hunting Krell was easily the most nerve-wracking thing they’d ever done. He utilized the Force to throw his voice, causing it to echo creepily through the trees. He laughed evilly before he struck, lightsabers whirling with accustomed practice and his Force abilities making it impossible to sneak up on him. On top of that, his species was physically superior. Where weaponry failed, brute strength prevailed. 

They won because Tup was a genius. And very, very brave. That fell in line with stupid, but then again he was under the command of Anakin Skywalker. Such a thing was in the job description. Point was, the plan worked. But now he was in the Brig and they had to figure out what to do with both him _and _Dogma... 

...And he wouldn’t _shut. Up_. 

When it came down to it, Rex couldn’t pull the trigger. It was still ingrained into him that he respect his commanding officer, even if he had enjoyed killing them. 

“What’s going to happen to me now, sir?” Dogma asked softly. His hands were shaking.

“Honestly? I don’t know,” Rex whispered. “If you’re lucky, they’ll put you in prison.”

“They’re going to recondition me, aren’t they?” His voice was high as panic set in. “Rex, please. Don’t let them recondition me.”

“I have no control over it, I- I don’t have control over anything it seems.” He let out a shaky breath, fisting his hands against his sides. “Maybe I never did.” 

“Just- just do right, by our brothers,” Dogma said, making an effort to stand tall. Rex nodded.

“I will,” he promised, resolve hardening. “This will never happen again. Not ever. Not if I have any say over it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the rest of the chapters were written long before the Umbara Arc was finished. There will be no more rewrites, because from here on out all rewrites would only be too depressing for the clones after Umbara and my mental state isn’t in a good place to dish that out, but there will be a lot of reacting. 


	55. Bowing on Broken Knees

“Well, look. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do so I just hope you have the common sense - and I highly doubt it - to not eat paint,” Ailen was saying as Rex walked in to the barracks. Everyone was already there in their fatigues, splayed out on the floor with a bunch of blankets and pillows everywhere. It was going to be another group snuggle pile sort of evening. 

After Umbara, it really wasn’t all that surprising. 

Rex left to go take a quick shower, turning the water as hot as it could go and then just stood there for a few minutes in the scalding downpour with steam hissing off his back and shoulders. He felt hollow.

Like nothing he ever said or did would ever make up for what had happened to all of them. 

Worse, there were good men- good brothers, dead because he hadn’t taken charge of the situation early enough. 

He inhaled sharply as an unexpected bout of subdued yet genuine laughter filtered into the ‘freshers, bringing him out of his stupor. He shut the water off and toweled dry, slipping on his fatigues and going to stand in front of a mirror and sink. Running his hand over his head he sighed, grimacing at the short but somewhat fluffy non-stubble. He hadn’t had time to give it its proper buzz shave, What with everything going wrong, and it was becoming a bit tufty.

Rex picked up his razor kit and was about to start swiping neatly and efficiently when the blade glinted in the light and flashed like a rocket flare. He abruptly dropped the blade into the sink, swore softly, and had to pick it up. On the second attempt his hands started shaking, so he let out a heavy sigh and gave up. 

Stowing his things in their proper place, he padded softly out into the barracks again. No one was paying him any attention, not with the illicit furry creature receiving numerous pets and treats as the men fawned over it and it became the primary form of traumatic avoidance at the present moment.

Rex wasn’t even exactly sure what it was, and he doubted anyone else did either. But it was cute and friendly and therefore someone had brought it back on board the ship with them. Brye happened to glance up and over and spotted him, brushing his long platinum bangs away from his marmalade eyes. 

“Hey, vod’ika,” he said lightly with a strained but genuine smile. Rex, who had never liked being called ‘little brother’ in front of the men before because it made things a little too casual and because their age difference was less than a complete second, suddenly wanted nothing more than to be Brye’s younger Squad Brother again. It must have shown on his face, because Brye’s smile dropped quicker than a group of shinies upon hearing a heavy cannon go off for the first time. 

“Are you okay?” He asked softly. Rex whimpered and tossed his inhibitions down the trash compactor, curling into a small and tight ball in Brye’s lap in one swift and fluid movement. Shoulders shivering as he stifled heaving sobs, tears streaming down his face... 

He let go. He just couldn’t hold it back anymore. With everything that had happened to him during the war... Umbara was the last straw. He broke down.

“No,” he cried softly, voice breaking.

The barracks had gone deathly silent, its inhabitants uncharacteristically frozen as Brye rubbed the space between their commanding officer’s shoulder blades comfortingly with one hand and gently ruffled the pale creamy fuzz on his head with the other, whispering soothing words in Mando’a in a sort of humming rhythm that had no established cadence. 

“I’m sorry,” Rex murmured, voice cracking even further. He’d forgotten anyone else was there but Brye. “I couldn’t save them. I tried. I tried so hard. I didn’t know what to do and I just- I didn’t know what to do and no matter what I did it wasn’t good enough and now they’re gone and somehow I’m still here and I don’t see an end and I’m just- I’m sorry and I know that no matter how many times I say that it won’t make things better I can’t fix anything this time because it’s all too badly broken I gave an order that ended with us shooting our own brothers and I went through with Jesse and Fives’ court martial because I couldn’t disobey a direct order and- and Force how do I live with myself I can’t I can’t I can’t-“

“Shhh,” Brye whispered soothingly. “It’s okay vod’ika. It’s okay.” He turned a pleading gaze on the rest of the Old Guard, who were watching with wide eyes and horrified expressions. Jesse was looking like he wanted to throw up it was upsetting him so much, and Kix was physically restraining himself from grabbing his first aid kit because there wasn’t anything in there that could patch a broken spirit. Ailen and Denal were just frozen, and Fives... 

It was hard to tell. A cross between wanting to help and wanting to let him suffer through it alone. 

Tup was the first one to spring into action, oddly enough. He slipped quietly out of the barracks and reappeared a few minutes later with Cody in tow; a few minutes where Rex kept crying into Brye’s now-soaked tunic and couldn’t stop as he took in gulping breaths and clutched at the fabric with trembling fingers. 

And Cody said nothing; he simply motioned for everyone to gather their things and follow. Torrent Company did as they were told, gathering their pillows and blankets and leaving to Force knew where. Tup whispered something in Brye’s ear before helping the rest of the Old Guard shepherd their comrades out with mild persuasion. 

It might have lasted a few minutes or an hour or two, but eventually Rex exhausted himself and fell into an uneasy sleep. It was at that point that Brye hefted him up with many a grunt of exertion and walked slowly down to the mess hall, where Cody had taken Torrent Company. Both the 501st and 212th were in there, all mixed up and snuggled. Everyone needed companionship, sibling support and affection, after what had happened on Umbara. 

The night ended with Rex being cuddled by the entirety of the Old Guard - even Fives - and by Cody and a few men from the 212th that had been caught in the friendly fire. 

The next day everyone acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and treated him with more respect if it was possible simply because they now understood that the decisions resulting in the deaths of their brothers he was being forced to make were slowly killing him. 

...

And that he didn’t have a choice sometimes but to make them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, after this the chapters are short snippets. Everything picks up, no breaks between everything going on, until it all ultimately culminates in Order 66 and time seems to freeze with a few long chapters. 


	56. Same Chains, New Owner

Slavery. 

An act in which an individual had all that made them unique, made them separate from the whole, stripped from them and forced them to participate in labor they would never be paid for. An act in which that individual was seen as less than a real being, relegated to a position more like livestock.

And it was eerily similar to Rex’s daily life, whether he was in the GAR or at a mine for the Zygerians. 

Each day, Kenobi made an effort to help the other slaves around them. Rex, he mostly trusted to look after himself, though there were a few instances where the Jedi came to his defense. 

_“I’m no Jedi.”_

Rex flexed his hands, the memory of that spear in his hand as he launched it at their captor tactile and surface. 

Thing was, he hadn’t seen a Zygerian when he’d thrown it. He’d seen Krell. 

He’d seen Krell, and he remembered Dogma. He remembered failing to do what needed to be done because it had been ingrained into him to never disobey or harm his commanding officer. But for a few brief moments, Krell had been laughing at him. Taunting him. And he had thrown that spear and blinked to see a Zygerian impaled on the end of it rather than a once-Jedi that had betrayed him.

Either way, he didn’t see much difference in his daily life from his jaunt as a slave aside from one thing:

They pretended it wasn’t slavery. They slathered words of honey and silk over the term, obscuring it in the blissful way of assuring the men that ‘everyone was unique in the Living Force.’ 

Rex might have still bought it, if he hadn’t remembered the conversation he’d had with Skywalker in the turbolift oh so long ago after Teth. The knowledge that Skywalker himself had been a slave cast new light on that conversation, and what was even more troubling was the fact that Anakin seemed to have become desensitized to it in the nearly three years they had been fighting. 

For his part, Rex knew it would be a long time before he found it possible to forget, if that were even possible.


	57. Conflict of Interest

It was late after Ahsoka had been pardoned for the false accusation by the Jedi Council, hours after Kenobi had walked in to tell Torrent Company that Ahsoka had left the Order and would no longer be their Commander because Skywalker couldn’t get the words out without choking on them, that it happened. 

“I was wondering when you’d come here,” Rex murmured quietly from his position in the corner of the supply room. Ahsoka froze, items halfway placed into her rucksack sliding unceremoniously in the rest of the way, and turned toward him.

He had been mostly obscured by shadow, and as she sought him out he turned on a singular light that cast sharp color contrast between light and dark throughout the room.

“I didn’t think anyone would still be... up,” she whispered. The bag dropped to the floor.

“We’re you even planning on saying goodbye?”

“I...” 

“I’ll take that as a ‘no,’ then. Vod’ika, what’s wrong?” 

“I don’t- I thought that, when it mattered, they’d stand by me,” Ahsoka sobbed. The tears in her voice caught in her throat and with a shudder she sank to the floor, back to a wall, and wrapped her arms around her knees as she pulled them to her chest. Rex sighed softly as he sat beside her with his long legs stretched completely out. “Why didn’t they do that?”

“The war has made everyone paranoid,” Rex replied bitterly. “People do things they normally wouldn’t because it feels justified, because they’re scared.”

“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to believe anymore,” Ahsoka sniffled. There was silence for a long period of time before Rex replied in a carefully even tone full of quiet conviction and tired resolve. 

“I believe that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt at least once, and definitely once if they’ve proven themselves to you. 

“I believe that you never turn your back on family, and that family doesn’t end with blood. I believe you should treat your friends as if they were your family, because in many ways they are.

“I believe that everyone has a choice: to become what they are expected to be and remain the same, or to become what they were meant to be and thus accept the capacity to grow. 

“I believe that our paths are only destined for us insofar as it shapes the way we see the universe, and that through this unique view we are able to see the paths available to us that we then choose to walk.

“I believe that everyone deserves a chance to make that decision for themselves, because the freedom to do so is what makes someone a person. 

“I believe that everyone has a code that they must follow, and that that code may be different from person to person. But that that person should never compromise what they believe to be right. 

“I believe that standing for what you believe in is the highest calling an individual can subscribe to. 

“And I believe in everything that I’ve just said like nothing I’ve ever believed in before. 

"That’s what I believe. What do you believe in?”

Ahsoka, who had been listening to him with wide, tear-sparkled eyes, choked out a sob and buried her face against his shoulder, entire body trembling. Rex swallowed thickly and drew her against his side, then into his lap, and she curled against him as if his living heat were the only comfort she had ever had before. He gently stroked her lekku and murmured soft words of peace over and over again while they rode out the tears. 

“It’ll be okay, vod’ika,” Rex whispered. “It’ll be okay.” 

“You’re the best ori’vod ever, you know that right?” The movements of his hands stilled as he registered what she had called him and he held her more tightly as he fought off the water collecting in his eyes as well.

_Big brother. _

“I’m far from the best out there, Ahsoka. But I try my best.”

“And we all appreciate it. I don’t think you realize just how much.” 

After a long span of time Rex scooped her up into his arms and carried her into Torrent Company’s barracks on Coruscant, dropping her into his bed and collecting some blankets and a pillow from a spare bunk he laid out on the floor right next to her. 

The next morning she was given souvenir after souvenir from the men, her rucksack filled to the brim with supplies they only-too cheerfully nicked for her, and Fives - who had disappeared for a few minutes - returned from an ARC briefing at the Temple with her lightsabers carefully tucked under his pauldron. 

As the sun rose over the towering buildings Rex followed Ahsoka outside into the yard. They stood for a few moments, admiring the view. 

“I believe I can do this,” she finally said, answering his question from the previous night. He smiled, giving her one last salute.

“Never doubted that for a minute, Commander. Be safe.”

“Thank you, Captain. For everything.” 

They regarded each other for a few moments before she took a deep breath and turned, walking out the exit and into a new chapter of her life away from the Jedi. 


	58. In Our Time of Dying

“So many...” Rex looked up from the reports he had been reviewing in the officer’s mess and frowned at Cody, who was sitting across the room from him.

“What?”

“I lost so many of them, Rex.” 

Ah, that was it then. The recent battle of Sarrish had decimated the 212th, casualties in the 94th percentile range. It was... there were no words. 

Except that Rex had been through this before. Twice. Once on Teth, where it was actually far worse, and the second time on Umbara where the casualties were better but the method of death far more traumatizing. 

Sarrish had been as brutal as it had been catastrophic. It was rare the two married so flawlessly, but marry they had. 

And Cody’s haunted eyes full of empty shock were testament to that. 

“So tell me, Vod,” Rex replied quietly. He got up and closed the door as Cody stared at him uncomprehendingly, sitting in the seat next to him.

“Rex, what...?”

“I know, Cody. I’m one of the few that actually does. So tell me, like I told you. I won’t judge.” 

Cody slumped in his seat, drew a sharp breath, and went through a recounting of the battle in a clinically-detached voice. At the end of it he paused.

“It was awful, Rex,” he admitted at last. “I knew what had to be done but I was powerless to do it. All those people under my command, all lost...” 

“It’s okay to not be all right,” Rex replied soothingly. 

The permission to grieve seemed to be the only incentive the Commander had been waiting for as he lowered his head into his hands and drew short, rasping breaths. Rex rested a hand on his shoulder, but remained silent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you who don’t know, the Battle of Sarrish was the one where Gregor got separated from his squad and stranded. 


	59. Drone

_Rex, it’s... bigger than any- of us. Than anything- I- could’ve imagined. I- never meant- to- to- I only ever wanted to do my duty... bro- Brother..._

_Fives? Fives! Stay with me, Fives!_

“Rex?” Cody asked softly. Rex had been sitting incredibly still in the officer’s mess at GAR headquarters for the better part of an hour, his mind replaying all of the things he could have done to avoid... to stop... but he hadn’t... and Fives... 

“Rex.” Cody shook his shoulder ever so slightly but he didn’t respond. 

“Do you think we should have someone look him over?” Blye murmured.

“What can they do? He’s not hurt,” Herc whispered bitterly. “Leastways, not physically. They don’t do anything for someone who’s injured emotionally.”

“That isn’t helping,” Cody snapped. The room fell quiet. He sighed, sitting gingerly next to Rex as if expecting him to bolt at the slightest provocation, and gently rested his hand on Rex’s shoulder. Still no response. 

_What’s your name, soldier? _

_My trooper designation is CT-5555, sir!_

_We call him Fives. I’m Hevy. That’s Echo. _

_"I never want to see this place again," Echo muttered. "It took everything from us."_

_"Just you and me now," Fives murmured, subdued. _

_"Only if the rest of the members of Torrent Comany don't count," Rex said quietly. It was evident by their body language that the two shinies were surprised. _

_"You really mean that, sir?" Fives asked._

_"Yes." He glanced at Cody, who was most likely staring back based on the angle of his t-slit. "I really do."_

His left hand hurt, aching sharply just as much as it had when he’d broken it by beating it in the turbolift. Good. He deserved it. 

“Does he often get tremors like that?” Herc asked, pointing. Cody glanced at his left hand where it was shuddering slightly against his thigh plate and grimaced.

“Not since... not since Teth, and then a week or two after Umbara. Psychosomatic, leftover from an older injury. I could always tell when something traumatic happened when... when it did that.” 

“...Oh.” 

“Is he ghosting?” Blye whispered. 

“Probably. Best leave him to it.”

_“Why did you take me with you, sir?” Fives asked quietly as they ascended the Temple’s steps. _

_“You needed a change of scenery, and you’ve never been.” _

_“I didn’t need a-” _

_“Fives.” _

_“...Thanks.” He was looking anywhere except into Rex’s eyes. “I’m not taking this well.”_

_“You just lost your last Squad Brother. I wouldn’t expect you to.” Fives hesitated before speaking again._

_“Ever had it happen to you?” _

_“No.”_

_“Really?” He registered surprise. “I thought, because it’s just you and Brye...”_

_“Most do.” Rex’s smile was dark. “Teri, Aeric, and Chester. Our other squad mates. We were too good at what we did, unfortunately. They separated us for specialized training in different respective fields right before Geo I. That was the last time we fought together, and I got split from the rest early into the battle. Haven’t seen them since, and I don’t know where they’re stationed so I can’t call. Don’t have the time to look either, the way you guys keep me running about putting out fires.” _

_“I think that’s worse than knowing they’re gone,” Fives murmured sympathetically. “The not knowing.” They were walking through the ornate halls with the vaulted ceilings now. Rex considered for a moment. _

_“I suppose. But I wouldn’t wish either on anyone for the world.” _

_“No.” _

_They went to talk to General Skywalker in the Tactical Room, and while they couldn’t get him to leave or sleep they did succeed in persuading him to eat something, which was a small victory that they were willing to accept. Afterward, Rex made a detour accompanied by a confused Fives to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. _

_Rex was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to just roam the Temple without supervision when the area wasn’t designated as military for the duration of the war, but no one seemed to care that they were there. In fact, they passed several Jedi both too old and too young to do any field fighting as they moved through the little pools and rivers to sit in the soft, thick grass next to the waterfall. _

_The holographic ceiling portrayed a synthetic view of the stars visible in the Coruscant night sky above them, and they laid out on their backs side by side and just soaked in the peace and calm for a while. _

_After a little bit Fives hesitantly tapped Rex on the top of his hand. He was asking. Rex responded in like kind to let him know it was okay, and they entwined their fingers together. Just laid there, looking at the stars and missing their brothers, quietly grieving for Echo. Rex didn’t need to look over to see that Fives was crying. _

Rex was dimly aware of the door of the room sliding open, but he wasn’t really paying attention. His fingers kept clenching and unclenching, seeking out that other hand that was no longer there. Losing Echo had been like losing a baby brother. But Fives... losing Fives had been like losing a squad brother. 

A boot squeaked jarringly on the floor in the subdued atmosphere and on instinct his gaze flicked to see what had caused it. Rex locked eyes with Fox, who swallowed nervously and took a step backward. 

Rex launched himself across the table and slammed into Fox; the pair rolled across the floor as profanities flew from Rex’s mouth like poisoned darts. He was mostly cursing in Mando’a, something he was wont to do when he was properly riled up over something, and he kicked Blye in the face when the other officer tried to pull them apart. Herc was crouching with wide eyes underneath the table, Cody frozen where he had been sitting with his hand still raised in the air where it had been resting on Rex’s shoulder. 

“You killed him! You could have stunned him! Why!?”

“He had a weapon! I was just-“

“He was my brother!”

“I’m sorry!”

“You shot him, you killed him, and he died in my arms! His blood is still on my hands!” They rolled so that Fox was pinned to the floor, Rex on top of him and braced in such a way that he was securely pinned. Rex then reared back and slammed his left fist into Fox’s nose. There were two audible cracks; Fox’s nose was bent at a severe angle, blood flowing from cuts and from internal damage alike. It was probably fractured in several places. Hot pain raced through Rex’s nerves as the old breaks from two years prior fractured all over again, and he hissed before rearing back with the same fist and striking again. Tears were streaming down his face, dripping and mingling with Fox’s when they fell, and after several good blows he half collapsed on top of the other officer.

“I was his commanding officer,” Rex sobbed; they wracked his body as he cried. “I failed him. So many times, I failed him. I can never protect my men, I can’t keep them safe.” 

“I was just doing my duty,” Fox whispered brokenly, not moving from his spot on the floor. “I was only following orders...”

“I know,” Rex choked, rolling off of him and laying by his left side as they both stared unseeing at the ceiling. “That makes it all the worse...” 

“I can’t get the betrayal- the betrayal in his eyes out of my mind, he just... I can’t...”

Several minutes passed with no one saying anything before Rex slowly reached out his good hand and linked one or two of the fingers with Fox’s, tears streaming down both of their stricken faces.


	60. Echoes of the Past, Whispers of the Future

“After the Citadel, Fives closed off. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. Not even me, though I tried,” Rex said after a few moments of charged silence. He had been sitting by Echo’s medbed; almost frying himself trying to sabotage the Separatists had been a very bad idea, and now they were in the process of upgrading his prosthetics and pumping vital vitamins and minerals into his body. He had been quiet the entire time, merely staring at Rex with inquisitive brown eyes. 

“For a few months, we didn’t see him. Then, he showed up for Umbara. That- that was catastrophic,” Rex breathed. “Did Jesse tell you what happened?”

“...Yeah,” Echo replied quietly. “I didn’t understand, though. Why? Why did... why did Krell...?”

“That question keeps me up every single night. It haunts me. And I’ll never forgive myself for everything that happened.”

“No one will tell me what happened to Ahsoka.”

“She left. She- she was falsely accused of murdering someone, and they made us _hunt her_. I hated it. We all did. But she got pardoned, and when she was she had lost faith in the system. Only a few days before that we’d dealt with a group called Zygerians, and they were slavers who had taken her people. The Jedi weren’t there for her people. I mean... they were. But because they were key allies, not because- if it had been a pre-established slave empire with her people trapped in the system, I highly doubt they would have gone to the trouble.” Rex grimaced. “That, coupled with the almost-immediate persecution afterward... the Jedi weren’t who she thought they were. She left.”

“No one looked for me,” Echo murmured softly. Rex’s heart skipped a beat as pain clawed at his ribcage like a vise and he clenched his fingers as tremors shuddered through his left hand. Echo, ever perceptive as usual, noted the return of the old tic but wisely said nothing.

“We thought you were dead. Fives wanted to recover your body, the Old Guard wanted to help... we went so far as to bring it up with Skywalker, but when he suggested it he was shot down...”

“I don’t blame you. I just think it’s wrong, that small people get forgotten because the war is so big.”

“You and me both kid,” Rex sighed. They lapsed into a more comfortable silence as one of the medics came by to track his vitals, exchanging an amused glance as Kix stalked past on the poor man’s heels to make sure his little brother was being well-looked after. 

“What happened to Fives? What... what did he say? Some of the guys said he sorta went crazy.” 

Both the medic and Kix had paused and were pretending not to be paying attention to them. 

“I’d like the room please,” Rex said quietly. The pair jumped and slunk away, but Rex called one of them back. “Kix, stay. I’ve had something on my mind I need to speak with you about.”

“Sir?” Kix asked, padding over. He glanced around at the surrounding area and then pulled the partition closed, deftly engaging the sound-proofing features so vital for a good rest. 

“Tup didn’t have a disease. Fives said that all of us have had a biochip embedded in our brains, makes us compliant. The Kaminoans wanted total obedience.” Taking in their startled, sickened expressions he tapped the side of his own head where he’d seen Fives’ injury. “Tup’s malfunctioned, and it drove him to kill a Jedi. It was like he was compelled to do it. I want to know why that happened.”

“It can’t be a simple matter of a compliance regulator,” Echo argued, his ever-present logic a balm over old wounds for his two brothers as they listened to him. “Simply removing that wouldn’t cause someone to go crazy and kill their commanding officer.”

“And you’re sure about that?” Rex asked. Kix was looking thoughtful as Echo grimaced, like he’d tasted something sour as he continued speaking.

“I _really _hate having to make this comparison, but the concept of a compliance chip in a clone is based off of the principle of restraining bolts in droids,” he explained. “The fact that Tup was _compelled _to do something... that sounds like the chip malfunctioned, all right. But it didn’t shut off. It was _activated._”

“Activated early?” Kix muttered. “Like subroutines, linked to trigger words. Such a biochip could easily be turned on early with the alteration of bodily chemicals. High stress, most likely. Force knows Tup was high-strung... and Umbara definitely wouldn’t have helped with that. Oh, and no one ever mentioned it, but he was practically on a hair-trigger when you were captured by those slavers, Rex. It was... worrying. I’ve seen stress, and then there’s _stress_.” 

“Fives removed his own chip after they’d pulled Tup’s out,” Rex added after a few stunned moments. “They played it off, tried to insinuate that the chip was keeping him from assassinating either the Jedi or the Chancellor. It never sat well with me. The idea that you can’t trust your own soldiers is the worst tactical strategy in the history of warfare. The entire structure falls apart if that happens.” 

“Sir, with your permission, let me investigate?” Kix asked. Rex nodded.

“On the sly. This conversation never happened, this mission never took place. Got it? Rope in Jesse. As an ARC he has higher clearance than you, and he’s already taken me aside and asked what really happened.”

“Better yet, rope the entire Old Guard in,” Echo suggested. “More signals, muddies the source of the enquiry. And you can trust them. We’re all so tight-knit, and we look after our own. Tup and Fives were _ours_. They can’t discard us as nothing more than dogs of war and expect us to accept that.”

“No they can’t,” Rex growled, voice gravelly as he kept his simmering anger in check. “Kix. Tell the Old Guard, so if you need help you have allies. But this assignment is yours.”

“It’ll be my honor and privilege to get to the truth about my brothers’ deaths, sir,” Kix replied, chin tilting up slightly with pride. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters left, but one of them depends on the end of the Mandalore Arc and the last is an Epilogue. I’m sorry this didn’t end the way I wanted, but you guys at least deserved an ending...


	61. Epilogue: Aay'han

The _Silver Angel _has found their ship in deep space after Ahsoka had sent a distress signal, and after the fighter had been successfully cast off into the void Trace and Rafi had sensed the mood and left the pair of them in the cargo hold after patching up their wounds. Ahsoka had sat on a crate for a good long time, not saying anything.

Rex, after having had the worst day of his entire life, simply lay face down on the floor feeling empty. He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel. How he was supposed to move on. Was that even an option? Maybe it wasn’t. 

Ahsoka’s voice startled him after the long silence. 

“They were my family too,” she whispered. 

“I know, vod’ika,” he sighed, grunting with pain as he rose to a stand and sat next to her on the crate. She closed her eyes against the tears threatening to spill there and leaned against his side. Rafi had found some civvies for him, his armor stacked and hidden neatly in a nearby pack. Without the plating or the undersuit he felt bereft. “They thought of you as family too.”

“That’s why it’s so much worse.” Her voice broke and Rex drew a shuddering breath. After a few moments, he started singing. His voice was low, rough, and pained, but it sounded nice and had good tone.

“Motir... c_a_’tra nau tracinya.

Gr_a’_tua... cuun hett su dr_a_lsh’a...

C_u_un hett... su...”

Softly, he repeated it two times more. On the second repeat, Ahsoka joined in. Their voices wove together in tremulous memorium as the stars flashed indifferently by.

“Motir... c_a_’tra nau tracinya.

Gr_a’_tua... cuun hett su dr_a_lsh’a...

C_u_un hett... su...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorian song sung at the end of this chapter is called Aay’han. It is a funeral song. In English, it goes thusly: 
> 
> "Those who stand before us light the night sky in flame. Our vengeance burns brighter still. Brighter still..."
> 
> If you haven't cried enough over the finale, then give this a listen.  
https://youtu.be/l7f-HvIKYzs


	62. Afterward

Wow. So, did not expect this thing to be as long as it became, and I really struggled to write the last chapters for it. But write them I did, even if they were very short, and I am so, SO privileged to have shared this journey with you. I started this in 2016, and now it’s 2020. Thanks for 4 years, even if there was a long hiatus in there. 

The first song for this fic is “King and Lionheart” by Of Monsters and Men. It can be found on YouTube, here:  
https://youtu.be/N30sBDpUR1Q

The second song for this fic is “Angel with a Shotgun” by The Cab. It can be found on YouTube, here:  
https://youtu.be/qvFpnM1gDQY

The third (and by far most traumatically-applicable song to the finale) is "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd. @clone-wars-edits on Tumblr was kind enough to make this video after I sent out a blanket request to the fandom. It can be found on YouTube, here:

https://youtu.be/RSjBw_eD4sw  
  


Thanks for 12 years, Clone Wars. Thanks for 4 years of this story. Thanks to my readers for sticking with me through it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read this before May 4th of 2020, you'll have read a different Prologue than what I ended up with. I changed my Prologue to fit the true ending of the show.


End file.
